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AT SAN LU/S OB! SPO, CALIFORNIA 

^-:'-:^^:rZ:^:^M ^y Myron MngelE^ 



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Class T-Ul 

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSrr. 



HISTORY 



OF THE 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL 



AT 



SA^[ LUIS OBISPO 



CAI.IFORNIA 



COMPILKD 

BY M\ ROISr ANGEL 

M 

Writer of Langley's Gazetteer of Pacific Coast, 1871-1876; History' of State of 

Nevada 1881; Placer County, Cal. 1882; San Luis Obispo 

County, Cal., 1883; Tulare County, Cal., 

1892; Editor, &c., &c. 

Hon. Cor. Member Oneida Hist. Society of New York. 



TRIBUNE PRINT 

SAN LUIS OBISrO, CAL 

1908 



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LIBRARY of CONGKESS^ 
1 wo Copies tteceiyjtj 

APR .24 1908 

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COPYRIGHT, 1907 
BY 

MYRON ANGEIy 



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pnltltr gititit, 

-^MYRON ANGEL. 




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THE 
CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL 

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ITS FOUNDING. 

BY MYRON ANGKI/. 



In the following pages I have endeavored to 
relate and compile briefly the efiforts, reasons and 
events in establishing the California Polytechnic 
School at San Luis Obispo. Having fervent 
ideals of high character for the public good, and 
believing in the necessity of such a school and 
that it will fulfill the high ideals, a benefit to all 
people, an ornament to the city, a center of re- 
finement to the county, an honor to the state, and 
an educator of labor and art, 1 regard it a duty, 
before the matter is lost forever or passed into 
indifference, to record in permanent form the earli- 
est footsteps in the creation of an institution that 
is destined to become prominent in the world. 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

have also, in a measure, sketched the attract- 
iveness, advantages and resources of this section 
of Cah'fornia as justifying the location of the 
school and its desirability for a large population 
of varied occupations and interests, and the future 
crrandeur of the state at large. Having, through 
a lono- residence and writer for manv substantial 
publications on the history, condition and re- 
sources of all the states and territories of the 
Pacific Coast, and travels through North America 
and Europe with careful observation and inquiry, 
I have written in confidence and fairness of this 
section in the articles in advocacy of the location 
of the school, herein republished, and believe that 
an intelligent and patriotic people will justify the 
selection and foundation. 



In 1893, upon visiting Oneonta, N. Y., my 
native town, after many years of absence, I was 
impressed by the great progress made in enlight- 
enment, refinement and population, chiefly attrib- 
uted to the establishment there of a State Normal 
School. From an unsidewalked, disorderly vil- 
lage it had grown in wealth and population to be 
the most prosperous, orderly and refined in the 
lovely valley of the Susquehanna. The Normal 

[loj 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

School, a brick building- of noble architecture, 
situated on a conspicuous elevation, was, of itself 
a monitor and a civilizer, and with its highly edu- 
cated faculty and the changing attendance of five 
or six hundred students, attracted the attention 
of the traveller and exerted an influence of the 
greatest good upon the people of the village and 
the surrounding country. I resolved that on my 
return I would endeavor to have such aq institu- 
tion established in San Luis Obispo. This city 
was then one of the most neglected places in Cal- 
ifornia, and was struggling for recognition and 
progress. I found that .Mr. J. W. Smith, now 
druggist, had been secretary of a Normal Manual 
Training School in Pennsylvania, and having 
pamphlets of several schools w^e planned for a 
similar establishment. 

Soliciting and talk continued with indifferent 
results in the fall of 1894. There was no great 
wealth or influence here, the Southern Pacific 
Railroad had not reached the city and there was 
no prospect of an endowment by any one of great 
wealth, so we must ask the State. Soon after 
the opening of the Legislature in January, 1895, 
I wrote to Hon. S. C. Smith, of Bakersfield, then 
Senator from the District of San Luis Obispo and 

[II] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

Kern counties, proposing the establishinor of a 
Normal School to be located in the city of San 
Luis Obispo. 

Senator Smith, young and ambitious, entered 
heartily into the project, but it had been proposed 
so late in the session that nothing more could be 
done than to consider it introduced. l^he first 
footstep had been taken, the first effort made. 
Thus ended the labor before the Legislature of 

1895. 



THE EFFORT RENEWED. 

Subsequent to the election of November, 1896, 
for the Legislature of 1897, I published in the 
San Luis Obispo Breeze a letter calling attention 
to the subject, and as people were waiting hope- 
fully and hopelessly for some person of wealth 
and enterprise to come to their aid with a gift of 
foundation, I signed the article ''New Blood" as 
follows: 

December 25th, 1896. 

Editor Breeze: Permit me to call your atten- 
tion, and also the attention of the people of San 
Luis Obispo, to the matter of a State Normal 
School in this city. There was a demand made in 
the Legislature two years ago for an additional 

[12] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

Normal School, on the ground that the present 
ones were crowded and that another was, or soon 
would be, a pressing- necessity. Then the West 
Coast Land Co., with a very commendable public 
spirit, made the offer of a tract of fifteen acres of 
land for a site for the buildings, very eligible for 
the purpose. There was some correspondence 
with our Senator and Assemblyman in the Leg- 
islature upon the subject, and it was learned that 
the locati(m of the school at San Luis Obispo was 
thought favorably of, but that the question was 
brought up so late in the session that nothing 
could be accomplished that year. Senator Smith 
suggested that the people of San Luis Obispo 
take the matter in hand in time to have a bill 
properly prepared and he would present it at the 
coming session and do all he could for its passage. 
The time of the meeting of the Legislature is 
very near, and I have seen no movement made 
toward this most important matter. There are 
political central committees who will rustle with 
the energy of a ''forlorn hope" in battle when 
nominations are to be made or a rallying meeting 
to be held, but are all their duties ended at elec- 
tion, or are there no other civic duties demanding 
the energetic rustling of such organizations or of 

[i3l 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

individual citizens ? I should say that here is a 
case in point worthy of the highest effort. Let 
the chairmen of the different political committees 
bury the hatchet of strife and come together and 
organize for the noblest effort ever made for the 
welfare and advancement of San Luis Obispo. 
There are at present three political parties, the 
Governor, Budd, is a Democrat, our Senator, S. 
C. Smith, is a Republican, and our Assemblyman, 
J. K. Burnett, is a Populist. 

No one need assume precedence nor incite 
jealousy. This is a question where party does 
not avail. All are interested. In this case it is 
well we are so divided in political representation. 
The schools belong to no political party, religion 
or class. They are public, republican and demo- 
cratic in the true meaning of those terms. All 
can meet and unite in the work on this question, 
and it is the noblest end of politics. 

A Normal School, if it can be established here, 
will be the most important institution that we can 
hope for as an aid to our fame and prosperity. 
First, the elegant buildings will be an ornament 
to our city, and when in successful operation, it 
furnishes us a convenient school of a high class 
and gathers to our midst professors and families 

[■4] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

of rank and education with hundreds of pupils of 
worthy ambition and lofty aims. These will give 
culture and refinement to our city, making it a 
nucleus of attraction to many families, tourists and 
business establishments, and adding millions of 
wealth to our city and county. 

There will be no doubt of the popularity of 
such a school established here. The site which 
will be given it is incomparable in its conspicu- 
ousness, its loveliness of views ; the picturesque 
grandeur of scenery, healthiness and equability of 
climate, its accessibiHty by sea and by land, by 
fine ocean steamer or by railroad train, as shortly 
the great transcontinental trains will pass through 
the city ; the mighty ocean is always open to 
cheap and to cheapen transportation, and roads 
from the great interior valleys are questions of 
brief time. The records of the Weather Bureau 
prove indisputably to the world that the climate 
of this locality is the equal in all that is desired 
for comfort, health and enjoyment of any known 
to civilization, and in regularity, geniality, exemp- 
tion from severe winds, extremes of heat or cold 
in any degree, and with sufficient but not excess 
of rain, is the most favored of all California with- 
out a single exception. The records place San 

[i5l 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 
Luis Obispo at the head of all localities. This is 

EMPHASIZED TO A CHALLENGE FOR COMPARISON OR 

DISPUTE. The year around the least complaints 
can be made. All these are grounds for attract- 
ing pupils and families to a school located here. 
The locality is midway between the present 
schools at San Jose and Los Angeles, two hun- 
dred miles from each. In this vast stretch, with 
the contiguous great valleys to the east, is the 
richest region of California, but partly developed. 
Nature has decreed, and soon, that development 
will come that wtU fill this region with millions of 
people with prosperity, wealth and refinement. 
Let the living and interested people take hold of 
this matter, enjoy their fame and success and 
wait no longer for 

NEW BLOOD. 



THE PEOPLE AROUSED. 

Following the last publication many people ex- 
pressed an interest in the proposed school, and 
the Tribune joining in the advocacy the favor 
became general. January 8, 1897. ^^^- J- W- 
Smith and Prof. N. Messer, County Superintend- 
ent of Schools, called on me with the request that 

[.6] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

I call a public meeting to formulate a course of 
procedure. The following day I spent in visit- 
ing the principal business men urging their at- 
tendance, and preparing a petition to be submit- 
ted for consideration. 

The proposition thus taking form was report- 
ed in the Evening Breeze of January, 1897, ^^ 
follows : 

PUBLIC MEETING HELD. 

The Breeze reported in its issue of Saturday 
that at the hour of its going to press a meeting of 
men interested in the Normal School project was 
about to take place. 

The meeting v\'as held, and unless all signs 
fail, it was the first systematic and business like 
movement yet made toward the securing of the 
location at this place of the new State Normal 
School should one be established. There w^ere 
some twenty gentlemen present, all of whom are 
of acknowledged influence and importance in the 
business circles of the city. 

Judge W. L. Beebee was called to preside in 
the chair, and County Clerk Whicher was chosen 
to act as secretary. 

Mr. Myron Angel, who has acted in conjunc- 

[17I 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

tion with the Breeze as a movinor spirit to awake 
the people of San Luis to the importance of 
securinor the location of a Normal School at this 
place, had partially prepared a petition to be laid 
before the Legislature prayino- for the establish- 
ment of the school, and that it be located in San 
Luis Obispo. Li this petition Mr. Anorel sets 
forth the needs which the State has of another 
Normal School, statincr fiorures and facts bearino- 
direct evidence that the present facilities for 
Normal training- in this State are inadequate. 
He showed plainly that San Luis Obispo, ac- 
cording to its geographical situation, is the 
natural location for the new school should it be 
established, and further more set forth at lencrth 
the unusual advantages of the city as a home for 
such an institution. 

The petition was complete, and Mr. Angel was 
anxious that others should add their suggestions 
and thoughts to it before it should be adopted 
and forwcU'ded 

It was moved that a committee be appointed 
to complete the compilation of the important 
document so well begun by Mr. Angel, and the 
following were appointed: Myron Angel, Mayor 
VV. A. Henderson, J. K. Tuley. The com- 

[.8| 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

mittee decided to meet Monday afternoon at 2 
o'clock at the City Hall to receive suggestions 
and advice, and to complete its labors. 

The meeting- adjourned until Tuesday, at 4 
p. m. to hear the committee's report. 



THE REPORT. 

THE TRIBUNE, JAN. I3, 1897. 

There was another meeting- of persons inter- 
ested in the Normal School project Tuesday 
afternoon at the City Hall. While it was not 
largely attended, those who were present showed 
very plainly their interest in the movement and 
their determination to carry out the crood work 
which has been begun. 

Judge Beebee was detained from the meeting, 
and in his absence A. S. Whitsel was called to 
preside. 

The first business of importance was the sub- 
mission of the petition which is to be sent to the 
Leg-islature. Mr. Myron Angel, Chairman of 
the Committee, read the petition which was quite 
voluminous. 

At the conclusion of the reading the report of 
the committee was discussed, accepted and the 
petition adopted. 

['9j 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

A coliection was taken to defray the expenses 
of havincj the report type written. 

Secretary Whicher moved that Ernest Graves 
be requested and commissioned to use his good 
offices with Governor Budd for the furtherance 
of the movement. The motion carried, and Mr. 
Whicher was appointed to convey the request to 
Mr. Graves. 

Upon motion the following were named as a 
committee to ascertain what building sites could 
be offered to secure the location of the school: 
J. D. Fowler, W. A. Henderson and Benj. 
Brooks. These gentlemen will report at a meet- 
ing to be held next Thursddy afternoon at 4 
o'clock. 

Various matters bearing upon the subject in 
hand were then discussed, after which adjourn- 
ment was taken until the above named time. 



The petition which was yesterday adopted re- 
cited enough facts and data concerning San Luis 
Obispo County to certainly entitle it to consider- 
able weight and- consideration at the Legislature. 
The city of San Luis Obispo, with its healthful 
climate, beautiful scenery, its geographical situa- 

[20J 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

tion, its accessibility, its present and its future, 
was especially dealt with. The picture was 
painted in ''natural colors" and none of its desir- 
able features were overdrawn. It was shown 
that within San Luis lives a people who are 
endeavoring to progress, and who best give 
evidence of that fact by the patronage they ex- 
tend to institutions of learning and progress 
abroad, and by the excellence of their schools at 
home. 

In the petition is included a report from Ob- 
server Williams of the Weather Bureau whereby 
it is shown that San Luis Obispo for the past six 
years (the time which the report covers) has had 
more comfortable and healthful average tempera- 
ture in summer and in winter and more briorht 
days than any town in the State. 

The freight and transportation facilities are set 
forth as they are, and it is shown that through 
this city, almost the entire travel from the nor- 
thern to the southern part of the State will soon 
come. Under this head the excellence of our 
harbor is also treated: It is also shown that this 
city will undoubtedly soon be connected by rail 
with the great San Joaquin valley via Bakersfield. 

The fact that there are hundreds who wish to 



CALIFORNIA POLVTKCHXIC SCHOOL. 

tcike advantage of the opportunities oftered by a 
State Normal Schtn)!, who now are unable to do 
so, and who could enjoy such adwuitaoes were a 
n(!W Normal School located here, is particularly 
emphasized as indeed are many patent condi- 
tions. 

All in all the petition is prestMUed in a clear 
and comprehensive statement which should bear 
great weight with our Legislature and Cu)vernor 
Hudd. 

A FA\\)RAHLH IXCinhlXr. 

Ria.ArKl) HV MYRON AMiia.. 

In compliance with the efforts made, Hon. S. 
C. Smith, then Senator re[)resenting San Luis 
Obispo countv in the Legislature of 1897, intro- 
duced the bill for the Normal School. 

Soon thereafter a bill was introduced to estab- 
lish a Normal School at San Diego which endan- 
gered the SiUi Luis C)bispo bill, and a committee 
of the Legislature wms sent to examine both 
places. After visiting San Diego the committee 
came to San Luis Obispo February 20, 1807. 
A reception and banquet was given at the Ra- 
mona Hotel, for which the City Council had 

[22J 



CAIJFORXIA POLYTECHXrC SCHOOL. 

appropriated $ioo.oo. Many citizens attended. 
As I had orioinated the proposition, I was called 
upon to explain. Besides saying- much which is 
elsewhere stated in these notes, I related that, 
'^I arrived in San F'rancisco in the rainy month 
of December, 1849, crossing the plains on foot 
from Fort Leavenworth to San Diego, direct 
from school on the Atlantic coast. Passage on a 
brig from San Diego had taken my last cent and 
1 walked in the muddy streets of San Francisco, 
penniless, ragged and hungry. A busy man 
hailed me with: *'Say, boy, do you want a jobT' 
I eagerly say, '*Yes." **Qet up on that building 
and nail on those shingles; it looks like rain, and 
that roof must go on in a hurry. Fll give you 
$8 a day." I was appalled at my incompetence 
for the task, and blurted out, ''Mister, I never 
drove a nail in my life." ''To hell with you," he 
said as he rushed for another boy who looked as 
if trained for work, and he got the job. I could 
have told the man a great deal I had learned 
in the books, but nothing about building a house. 
1 met other young fellows who could do black- 
smithing, house painting and other arti/an work, 
and were paid high wages; but there was no 
such opening for me. Now, gentleman of the 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

Legislature, I will say I have planned for a 
school here which will teach the hand as well as 
the head so that no young man or young woman 
will be set off in the world to earn their living as 
poorly equipped for the task as was I when I 
landed in San Francisco in 1849." 

Upon my conclusion. Hon. SIg. Bet'man, 
Assemblyman from San Francisco, arose and 
enthusiastically remarked : '' I have been opposed 
to any more Normal Schools, and came here de- 
termined to oppose this, but upon the explanation 
of the plan of Mr, Angel I will return and vote 
for this polytechnic school and will do all in my 
power to carry it through." This was heartily 
approved by all present and appeared the turning 
point in our proposition. Bettman was subse- 
quently elected Senator from San Francisco and 
was alwavs for the school, thereafter called the 
Polytechnic. Senator Smith, who had introduced 
the bill, spoke eloquently in its favor, followed by 
all members of the delegation and by Judge E. 
P. Unangst, R. E. Jack, Prof. Leroy E. Brown, 
School Superintendent N. Messer, County Clerk 
John Whicher and others. The Legislative del- 
egation was : Senators S. C. Smith, J. J. Luck- 
singer, P. L. Henderson, L. J. Dwyer, R. Lind- 

[24] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

er, and W. A. Shippee ; Assemblymen : J. O. 
Vosberg-, E. D. Damon, Sig. Bettman, E. F. 
Lacy, and Lawrence Harris. 

The report was favorable and the bill as intro- 
duced by Senator Smith passed both houses of 
the Legislature but was disapproved by Governor 
Budd. 

The proposition of a state school at San Luis 
Obispo was not abandoned although objected to 
by the Governor on the plea of economy. The 
step for a polytechnic school, including agricul- 
ture, supported by the state, was in advance of 
the times, and many pleaded it was not a necessi- 
ty, while it would add heavily to taxation. It was 
contended that the State University had been es- 
tablished with a professorship of agriculture, and 
that the agricultural attendance was almost nil, 
showing that the proposed school was not de- 
manded. The call of San Luis Obispo at this 
date was in advance of the times, but it was the 
beginning,and the means of arousing the Univer- 
sity of California and the state to a greater inter- 
est in the matter of agricultural and polytechnic 
education. 

[25] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1898. 
Althouorh defeated in our aspirations by the ob- 
jections of Gov. Budd, the campaign of 1898 gave 
an opportunity for a retrial of the effort. A gov- 
ernor was to be elected and it was hoped to 
pledge the candidates to favor the establishment 
of the Polytechnic School at San Luis Obispo. 
Mr. Henry T. Gage was the Republican nomi- 
nee, and James Maguire the Democratic. A 
new party had entered the field, the Silver Re- 
publican, which held a convention at Los Angeles, 
intending to indorse the Democratic nominations. 
To obtain the favor of the Democratic nominee 
and political mention, I attended the convention 
with the result as reported in the San Luis Obis- 
po Breeze in the following : 

GOOD FOR ANGEL! 



SAN LUIS OBISPO POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 



THE STATE SII.VER REPUBUCAN CONVEN- 
TION INDORSES THE MEASURE. 
SO DOES MAGUIRE. 



The Breeze, after the recent County Republi- 
can Convention, called attention to the omission 

[26J 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

on the part of the platform builder of that Con- 
vention to make any allusion whatever to the 
San Luis Obispo harbor improvements or the 
proposed Polytechnic School for this county. The 
orreat mind of that olatform maker was so intoxi- 
cated with the glory of the war, victories, and the 
achievements of the battleship: Orecron, that it 
hadn't the little bit of a gush left for affairs of 
local concern, however important. 

The delegates from this county to the the State 
Silver Republican Convention at Los Angeles 
last Saturday, didn't forget their own county's in- 
terests, as the following dispatch will show : 

Alcatraz Landing, CaL, Aug. 2g, i8g8. 
Breeze, San Luis Obispo : Our Polytechnic 
School adopted in platform and approved by Ma- 
guire. 

ANGEL and KIMBALL. 

Plank from the platform of the Silver Republi- 
cans, adopted at the city of Los Angeles, Cal., 
August 27th, 1898. 

OUR POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

We favor the extension of our school system 
in all practical branches, and favor the establish- 

[27] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

ment of a Polytechnic School at San Luis Obis- 
po, and the continuation of the present system of 
the state school text books. 



RENEWED EFFORT. 

Another election has been held and now let us 
renew the effort for the Polytechnic School. Two 
years ago we lost it by a scratch — or rather the 
lack of a scratch of the Governor's pen. 

It was conceded by all that if our efforts had 
been put forth earlier in the session our school 
bill would not have been lost in the Governor's 
pocket. 

There are many preliminaries necessary to a 
proper presentation of our demands for the 
establishment of a Polytechnic School at San 
Luis Obispo. 

Senator Smith writes to Myron Angel that the 
first bill which he will introduce in the Senate 
will be the Polytechnic School Act which BuJd 
pocketed two years ago, and that he will do his 
best to secure its passage. Of course, the Sen- 
ator expects the cooperation and hearty support 
of the citizens of this city. 

Assemblyman Burnett can be counted on to do 

[28J 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

all in his power to assist Senator Smith in his 
efforts to secure favorable action by the Legisla- 
ture. 

The labor and expense incident to the cam- 
paign for the school will fall upon the business 
men of this city. 

They should at once organize, appoint com- 
mittees, and be prepared as soon as the legisla- 
ture assembles to commence active operations. 

A number of suitable locations should be 
bonded so that a definite offer can be made 
should another legislative committee visit the 
town. ^ 

Senator Smith stated that the visit of the 
committee two years ago created a very favor- 
able impression upon the legislature and did 
much to assist the passage of the bill. 

Senator Smith thinks that there will be an- 
other committee here during the session of the 
coming Legislature, and our people should be 
better prepared to receive and entertain them 
than they were two years ago. 

Then there was short notice and the reception 
was an impromptu affair. This year there is time 
to have the house in order and everything in 
readiness for the entertainment of the visitors. 

I29] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

It is time to be moving in this important mat- 
ter. 

Business men of San Luis Obispo, get a move 
on yourselves. 



ENTHUSIASTIC MEETING. 

THE TRIBUNE, DEC. 7, 1 898. 

It v^as dem.onstrated last evening that San 
Luis Obispo is very desirous of securing the 
establishment of a Polytechnic School in this 
city. The meeting at the city hall was well at- 
tended, and displayed considerable enthusiasm. 

Myron Angel called the meeting to order, and 
nominated Mayor Shipsey for chairman, and he 
was chosen. The mayor spoke eloquently of 
the needs of such a school, and solicited the 
earnest efforts of every citizen to aid in procuring 
it. 

The members of the local press were made 
secretaries of the meeting. 

Myron Angel spoke at great length on the 
proposed school, and was followed by C. H. 
Johnson in much the same vein. They hoped 
that the citizens would get to work and help to 

[30] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

add to the future possibilities of our city. The 
Polytechnic School should be aided by all. 

Mr. Angel read a letter from Senator Smith 
to the effect that the first bill which he would 
introduce in the senate would be for the estab- 
lishment of a Polytechnic School. 

The following committee was selected to bond 
lands and secure options on property from which 
a site for the school may be selected: C, H. 
Johnson, D. Lowe, Thomas Barrett, J. P. An- 
drews, A. McAlister, Myron Angel and A. ¥. 
Fitzorerald. 

A subscription committee was appointed, con- 
sisting of Wm. Sandercock, John Barneberg and 
J. K. Tuley. 

A committee on legislation was appointed. It 
consists of Mayor Shipsey, chairman ; R. E. 
Jack, G. B. Staniford, A. S. Whitsel, Benj. 
Brooks, C. A. Palmer and Myron Angel. All 
other committees were directed to report to this 
committee. 

The general public committee organization 
will continue subject to the call of Mayor 
Shipsey. 

It is time to get to work at once, as we must 
have the school. 

(31] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 
THE POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 



THE DEMOCRATIC PAPER OF BAKERSFIELD DOES 

SOME TALKING. 

(TRIBUNE, Dec. 13, 1898.; 

It is given out that one of the first bills that 
will be introduced by the Senator from Kern and 
San Luis Obispo counties will be to provide for 
a State Polytechnic School to be located in San 
Luis Obispo. The establishment of such an 
institution is in line wath a progressive educa- 
tional policy, but the wisdom of locating such a 
school at a point so remote from all centers of 
population as is San Luis may be questioned. 
If the state is to maintain another state school, 
which will be the only one of its kind, it should 
certainly be situated at a point most convenient 
and accessible to the people. There seems to be 
no good reason why San Luis should be selected, 
unless indeed as has been suggested the scheme 
originated with a clique of capitalists who have, 
in the suburbs of San Luis, an elephant on hand 
in the way of a deserted boom hotel which if the 
plan carries, is to be sold to the state as a home 
for the new institution. A legitimate bill to 
establish and maintain a Polytechnic School will 

[32] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

perhaps meet with h'ttle opposition, but if it shall 
develop that the scheme is one whereby an at- 
tempt is to be made to unload on the state a 
worthless piece of property, then the bill should 
meet with the fate it will deserve. — Bakersfield 

Californian. 

The Californian predicted that Hon. S. C. 

Smith would not be re-elected. It is probably 

right (?) again. San Luis Obispo is the place 

for the school, and it will get it. 



SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSITIONS. 

FOR SITES FOR THE STATE POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 
BRKKZE:, Dec. II, 1898, 

The committee appointed at the mass meeting 
for obtaining sites suitable for a Polytechnic 
School is C. H. Johnson, D. Lowe, Thos. Bar- 
rett, A. McAlister, J. P. Andrews, Myron Angel 
and A. F. Fitzgerald, any of whom will receive 
and file propositions of sale of such sites, number 
of acres and rates per acre from one to one hun- 
dred acres. 



rXRIBUNK, Dec. 12, 1898.) 

The Bakersfield Echo says that the chances 

[33\ 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

for this city securing the Polytechnic School are 
good. The local committee is going to do some 
hard work from now on. 



THE CLAIMS OF SAxN LUIS OBISPO. 

FOR THE POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL TO BE ES- 
TABLISHED BY THE STATE. 

THE IDEAL LOCATION FOR THE INSTITUTION. 

RAII.ROAD AND STEAMSHIP CONNECTIOll FOR AI.L PARTS 

OF THE STATE — CLIMATE INCOMPARABLE — A 

FUTURE LADEN WITH PROMISES. 



By MYRON ANGEL. 

The Bakersfield Californian, in an unfounded 
objection to the prcjposition to locate a Poly- 
technic School in San Luis Obispo, unconsciously 
impels a good stream of water on our wheel. 
The chief objection is that ''it is a scheme of 
some capitalists to unload a white elephant, in 
the shape of a dead boom hotel, on the State." 

In the removal of that objection it only need 
be said that the site of the school will be selected 
by such commissioners or trustees as will be 

[34J 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

appointed by the Legislature or Governor under 
such bill as may be passed providing for such an 
institution in or near this city. 

There are here a score or more of sites suit- 
able for the purpose and available and which will 
be offered for selection to the commissioners or 
trustees when such officers are appointed. These 
officers will probably not be San Luis Obispo 
people, but entirely disinterested and unpreju- 
diced, to whom all sites may be offered and be- 
fore whom all owners and proposers of sites may 
appear and present their reasons and advocacy of 
their offers. If under these circumstances, a 
Board of the ablest and best men of the State — 
as in great educational matters ability and honor 
still prevail — should select the alleged dead hotel, 
the Californian nor any other paper could find 
fault. 

Another objection of the Californian is that 
San Luis Obispo is an out-of-the-way place. All 
know that such a condition will attach to it but a 
short time in the future; and is not very serious 
at present. As previously said, the great trans- 
continental railroad will soon be completed 
through it. This is the Southern Pacific, with a 

[35] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

gap of less than sixty miles to be filled on which 
work is now energetically carried on, and over 
which, before the buildings of the Polytechnic 
School can possibly be erected, the great trans- 
continental and main coast trains of passengers 
and freight will be passing. San Luis Obispo 
will not be such an out-of-the-way place then. 
Then, too, very naturally, with the great school 
located here, the delightful summer resort 
afforded by our coast to the heated and fevered 
residents of Kern, the available market the im- 
proved harbor will afford the products of the 
great fertile, irrigated valley, connection by rail- 
road will be effected, making Bakersfield and San 
Luis Obispo sister cities of Mid California with 
interests in common and communication most 
intimate. 

As not so ''out-of-the-way," San Luis Obispo 
already has railroad connection with San Fran- 
cisco by the Southern Pacific; has the Pacific 
Coast Railway into Santa Barbara County for 
seventy miles and to Port Harford connecting 
every other day with the fine passenger and 
freight steamers of the Pacific Coast Steamship 
Co., to all southern and northern ports, making 
this city a point of competitive rates. Such are 

[36J 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

advantages that place it in the front rank of 
available points. 

In addition, its climate is emphatically prom- 
inent in its favor. San Luis Obispo challenges 
the whole known world on its general record. 
In healthfulness, equability, genialty, rainfall, 
exemption from storms, severe winds and all ex- 
tremes San Luis Obispo is without a rival, the 
most favored known anywhere. 

''A legitimate bill to establish and maintain a 
Polytechnic School will perhaps meet with little 
opposition," says the Californian. The Califor- 
nian may be assured that the proposition is a 
very legitimate one. Lideed it is a very grand 
and comprehensive one, of which the State and 
Pacific Coast will be satisfied and proud in future 
years. What Freiberg and Heidelberg are to 
Germany or Cornell to New York, the Polytech- 
nic School of San Luis Obispo is designed to be 
to the Pacific Coast. Here are special advan- 
tages and opportunities for carrying out the 
design. These advantages are so many that it 
is impracticable to call attention to all at this 
time. The subject is for the discussion and work 
of all the people until accomplished. 

\37] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

SAN LUIS OBISPO AND 

THE POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 



COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF THE OBJECTS 
OF THE PROPOSED INSTITUTION. 



A GREAT FUTURE AND A GREAT FIELD. 



THIS COUNTY A LOGICAL AND FIT PLACE FOR THE 

BESTOWAL OF THE GIFT IT ASKS— GEOLOGICAL 

AND MINER ALOGICAL ATTRACTIVENESS. 



By MYRON ANGEL. 
(Breeze, December i6, 1898,) 

Through the genius and energy of our friend, 
Senator Smith, San Luis Obispo has been placed 
in the front rank as the locality for a State Poly- 
technic School. Let us inquire what the title 
implies and why San Luis Obispo is most speci- 
ally fitted for the seat of such an institution. 
The definition given by Webster is: 'Tolytech- 
nic, meaning many arts, applied particularly to 
schools in which many branches of art and 
science are taught with especial reference to their 
practical application." 

There are already a number of schools in Cal- 

[38] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

jforpia bearino the title, and the great universi- 
ties are schools of many arts and sciences, but 
none fill the requirement of such a school as the 
§tate, the Pacific Coast and the progress of the 
age demands. The present great schools are 
scientific and classic; educating for the high pro- 
fessions and the pleasures of literature. Even 
those established in the large cities by the bounty 
of men and women of great wealth, having for 
their ^im instruction in art, are limited in their 
scope silthough grand and useful to a degree, but 
cannot fill the demand like a school in the 
country. The course of a student from a prim- 
ary school through the university takes one into 
the years of manhood, with all the acquired 
learning fitting him only for the three or four 
professions of lawyer, doctor, minister or teacher, 
already overcrowded. To nine tenths of the 
graduates these years of vigorous, impressive 
youth are precious years wasted. In these years 
they should, while receiving a high education, 
have also learned the art of making a living; 
have educated the hands as well as the head. 

All ambitious youth and all the sons of 
wealthy parents desire to graduate at the univer- 
sity, and thus we see these great institutions 

|39] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

crowded with thousands of students and endowed 
by the superabundant rich with milHons of dol- 
hirs besides the taxes paid by the people through- 
out the state. Without a thought of disloyalty 
to the great universities may it not be asked if 
it were not better to divide the pa ronage, divert 
some of the endowments and taxes and extend 
the course of studies in a place in the country ad- 
apted to a great school for the '' practical applica- 
tion " of the arts and sciences. Making what is 
needed at the present time, a truly polytechnic 
school. There is, at the present time, really no 
such complete school in America. We may not 
have a complete one in San Luis Obispo, but we 
will try for one to fill a void, one that can grow 
to become complete. The Pratt Institute of 
Brooklyn, N. Y. and the plans of the Cogswell, 
Lick and Wilmerding in San F'rancisco are 
eftorts in our line, but we should take a higher 
mark, like Freiburg in Germany, and Cornell, in 
New York. They were established in a com- 
paratively small way, and so may be ours. But 
how eminent have they become and how useful 
their work. 

Labor is the source of all wealth. Historians 
tell us that in the height of the Roman Empire 

[40] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

'' merchants were more powerful tliaii princes, 
and to do something for the public good was a 
greater honor than to be born of noble blood." 

The future of our country depends upon its 
labor, therefore labor should be educated, popu- 
larized and enobled. It is labor that does some- 
thing for the public good. The architect and 
builder, the road maker and the engineer, the 
miner, the worker of metals, the assayer and 
analyst, the cultivator of the soil, the handler and 
manufacturer of all products, and thus through 
the whole alphabet of art and sciences, are all 
the workers of the future, the developers of 
America, the ones to be enobled by higher edu- 
cation. The future of America is of wealth and 
brilliancy beyond imagination of statesmen and 
scholars of the past. Educated workers will be 
the rule and factors in the brilliancy, and educa- 
tion will not be limited to the professions nor to 
the rich. 

Strangers may ask why has San Luis Obispo 
been placed in the front rank as the site for the 
State Polytechnic School. First it was observed 
that San Luis Obispo had been neglected in all 
State appropriations for schools or institutions of 
any class; that it stood two hundred miles or 



llflj] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

more from any such institution; that it was in a 
section of great resources and loveliness of cli- 
mate and beinor recently made more accessible by 
railroad it was time it should share in some of 
the benefices of the State. A Normal School 
was proposed, but it was seen that the State was 
fully supplied with schools for teachers, and the 
idea of the Polytechnic School was dev^eloped. 
The time had come for the idea, as in all history 
the time comes for every great idea, invention, 
dibcovery and advance. 

But the reason of the benefice is surpassed by 
the reason of necessity and appropriateness. 
The future, as I have said, is a future of labor, or 
skilled development of resources. Much of this 
wmH be in mining, road miking, architecture, 
sculpture, analyses, agriculture, electricity, the 
working of metals and minerals in their infinite 
forms, and the like. For all these San Luis 
Obispo county offers advantages not surpassed, 
if equaled, in the same area in the world. 
In the examination of the state by the corps of 
assistant state mineralogists it has been found 
that this county contains a greater variety of 
minerals than any other. While not classed as a 
mining county a great variety of minerals exist 

[42J 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

in every form known to the mineralogist. This 
has been confirnieJ b/ the rece nt investi^rations 
by Professor H. W. Fairbanks, who most em- 
phatically declared San Luis Obispo county the 
most interestinor and diversified in eeoloeical and 
mineralogical formation of any similar area 
known on the Pacific Coast. Prof. Fairbanks 
was an enthusiast in the study and admiration of 
the geology and mineralogy of this region. It 
is a region of unique formation, of precipitous 
peaks, mountain ranges, rolling hills and fertile 
valleys. Porphyry, trachyte, granite, jasper, ser- 
pentine, limestone, bituminous shale, slate, trap 
and sandstones are among its massive rocks; vast 
beds of fossil shells, bituminized sand rock, as- 
phaltum, gilsonite, brea, oil, clay, ochre, salt, 
onyx, gypsum, alabaster, and other useful miner- 
als are found; and of metals, gold, copper, anti- 
mony, quicksilver, manganese, iron, baryte, chro- 
mium and others in considerable abundance, all 
giving opportunities for study and the '* practical 
application " of studies in all the connecting arts 
that go to make up the industrial world. In ad- 
dition the county is distinguished for its medici- 
nal hot springs and its medicinal plants which 
constitute an important feature in its attractive- 

[43] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

ness for a polytechnic school. While this detail 
of advantages is incomplete it is sufficient to pre- 
siMit San Luis Obispo as the most fit site for the 
great school. 



SITES FOR POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

Proposals for sites for the Polytechnic School 
will be received by Th)mis B irrett, secretary of 
the committee on sites, at his office on Higuera 
street, San Luis Obispo. Prop )sals are invited 
of tracts of lo to loo acres anywhere within two 
miles of the court house, and should state the 
number of acres, price per acre, locality and im- 
provements, terms to be held as confidential by 
the committee. 

It must be understood that the committee has 
no power of selection or purchase, but will hold 
the offers to^^resent to such trustees as may be 
named in the act authorizing such Polytechnic 
School or appointed by the governor to make 
such selection. 

MvRON" Angel, Chairman. 

[44J 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 



OUR POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 



ITS NECESSITY AND SCOPE— LET IT BE THE 
CORNELL OF THE PACIFIC. 



'where any person can find instruction in any 

STUDY. ' ' 



By MYRON ANGEC 
(S. h. O, Breeze, Jan. 7, 1899.) 

There appears in this community a lack of 
conception of the scope and importance of the 
Polytechnic School proposed to be established in 
San Luis Obispo. The idea of littleness, or of 
individual speculation or peculation should be 
dispelled. Our proposition is for a great State 
institution, of special necessity at the present day, 
for the higher education and development of 
artizans and the ennoblement of labor. 

There will be no other such institution in Cal- 
ifornia, and the " Polytechnic School " when 
established will be at San Luis Obispo and not 
elsewhere. This is destiny as certain as any 
advancement can be assured. If, through any 
perverse action of individuals, condition of State 

I45] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

finances or other causes, the proposition is not 
consummated at this session of the Legislature 
it must be carried to the next, and till the great 
fact is accomplished. There must be no abate- 
ment of energy, effort or advocacy. 

It is true the State has a great University at 
Berkeley, richly endowed by taxation, bequests 
and donations, but it does not nor can it fill all 
the requirements or satisfy the demands of the 
people of so vast an area of grand and diversified 
resources as California. The progress of 
America, particularly of the Pacific Coast, indicates 
a future of wealth and splendor of which the 
history of the world affords but faint comparisons. 

The monuments of the mystic age of Egypt, 
the gigantic works of ancient China, the splendor 
of the palaces of India and the grandeur of 
medieval Europe may be surpassed in our own 
country, and through just and enlightened legis- 
lation the wealth will redound to the good of the 
artizan and laborer and not all to the glory of 
princes and lords. It our Government is main- 
tained by the people for the people then the 
people must care that all handicraft is educated 
and elevated to enjoy the wealth they create. 

In former articles I have pointed out the lines 

[46] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

of development, the resources of the country and 
why San Luis Obispo is specially best fitted for 
the location of the school. Amonof others I have 
mentioned Cornell University. We may look 
forward to the growth of a similar one here. In 
1865 Ezra Cornell expressed the desire *'to found 
an institution where any person can find instruc- 
tion in any study." 1 

For this purpose he gave $500,000 and two 
hundred acres of land upon which the great 
university is built now, with additional lands, 
occupied by more than one hundred buildings, 
campus, and fields. The site is in the suburbs 
of Ithaca, N. Y., on a bluff of 400 feet elevation 
overlooking the city and Cayuga Lake. It has 
grown into one of the great institutions of the 
world, and from its Register for 1897-98 of pro- 
fessors and classes appear truly to furnish in- 
struction for any person in any study. The 
Register gives a catalogue of 1,790 students and 
220 teachers besides trustees, preachers and 
other officers and employees. 

I have mentioned Cornell for the reason that 
it was established at a small town, the county 
seat of an interior county of New York, in a 
State where there are other great universities 

[47] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

and colleges and with many great universities? in 
surrounding States. This appears a fair criterion 
for S m Luis Obispo, as we are further removed 
from any State institution of learning than the 
people of any State of the East. The time has 
come for every extended institution, of which 
agriculture, architecture, stone work, mining, are 
prominent, and for these San Luis Obispo offers 
accumulated advantages. In this connection I 
append an extract from an article in an Eastern 
paper on Cornell. 

*Tt is only thirty years since Cornell Univer- 
sity was established; and yet, so conspicuous is 
its place among the great institutions of learning, 
that the average man is apt to forget that it is in 
years but a stripling among American universities, 
and colleges. 

"It is announced that a fourth term, to be 
known as the Summer Session has been planned, 
where high school teachers are to have special 
attention, w^ith the best instruction to be obtained 
any where in all the subjects taught in the 
schools, including languages, mathematics 
sciences, manual training, drawing and nature 
study, to be given by the pick of the Cornell 
faculty. 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

**It is stated as a fact that there is at Cornell 
University, in central New York, the greatest 
school of naval architecture in America. The 
department is presided over by Professor Durand, 
graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy, who has 
had eleven years' work in the construction of 
ships for the navy, and Assistant Professor Mc- 
Dermott, twelve years designer and in charge of 
scientific work in the great Thompson shipyards 
at Clydebank, Scotland. 

''The Cornell school has been running seven 
years, and men trained in it are employed in all 
great shipyards of the country, and have helped 
to design and construct nearly all the great 
battle ships built by the government, besides 
hundreds of merchant ships. Fifty Cornell stu- 
dents are this year specializing in naval architec- 
ture and marine engineering; and these will be 
right *in it' when the anticipated boom in Ameri- 
can shipbuilding comes along. 

*'The University College of Agriculture con- 
tinues to demonstrate that learnin' " may not be 
.wholly wasted on those who successfully till the 
soil. It exposes a brand new leaf in the history 
of potato culture, for example. This year it has 
raised an average of 298 bushels to the acre on 

1.49] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

indifferent to poor land, which has been under 
cultivation for five years without fertilizer. Di- 
rector Roberts says sugar beets can't possibly be 
made to pay as well as potatoes that are properly 
cared for. The average yield of potatoes in New 
York State is only one-third that obtained by the 
Cornell experiments." 

THE LEGISLATURE OF 1899. 



ENDORSED BY N. S. G. W. 



Los Osos Parlor, N. S. G. W. has adopted the 
following resolutions: 

Whereas, It would be a great benefit to the 
educational and material development of the 
various counties of Southern California, and of 
the County of San Luis Obispo in particular, 
that a State Polytechnic School be established in 
the County of San Luis Obispo; and, 

Whereas, Bills have been introduced in the 
several Houses of the Legislature of the State of 
California for the accomplishment of said object; 
and, 

Whereas, The fundamental principles of the 
Order of the Native Sons of the Golden West 

[50] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

are centered in the advancement of the entire 
great State, and the promotion of its institutions, 
therefore be it 

Resolved, By Los Osos Parlor, No. 6i, Native 
Sons of the Golden West, that we heartily en- 
dorse the project for the establishment of a State 
Polytechnic School in San Luis Obispo County, 
and commend to the lawmakers of this State for 
their favorable consideration. 

Resolved, that copies of these Resolutions be 
transmitted to State Senator Smith and Assem- 
blyman Burnett at Sacramento. 

Dated, San Luis Obispo, Cal, January 23, 
1899. 

E. Green, 
A. Robinson, 
H. E. McKennon, 
J, F. Fiedler, 

Committee. 



(51] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

SYLVESTER CLA.RK SMITH 

Republican, of Bakersfield, was born on a farm 
near Mount Pleasant, Iowa, August 26, 1858; 
was educated at the district school and at Howe's 
Academy, Mount Pleasant; moved to California 




in the fall of 1879; farmed and taught school in 
Colusa county, and in 1883 went to Kern county 
to teach; while teaching he was studying law, and 
in 1885 was admitted to practice and located at 
Bakersfield, Cal., where he still resides. In 1886 
a number of farmers bought a newspaper plant 

[52] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

wilh which to establish a pamper to represent their 
views on a question of Water right, which was 
then engrossing their attention, and Mr. Smith 
was employed to edit the paper — the Kern 
County Echo; three years later he bought the 
paper and continued to edit it till 1897, when he 
returned to his law practice; is still the principal 
owher of the paper, now a morning daily, and 
does occasional editorial writing for it. He was 
elected to the State senate in 1894 and again in 
1898, serving eight years; was defeated for the 
Congressional nomination in 1902 by Capt. M. 
J. Daniels on the forty-ninth ballot; was nomi- 
nated by acclamation for the Fifty-ninth Con- 
gress in 1904 and elected, and reelected to. the 
Sixtieth Congress, receiving 22,548 votes, to 
13,992 for C. A. Barlow, Democrat,' and 4,003 for 
N.A.Richardson, Socialist. — Directory of Congress 
Congressman Smith, while in the .State Senate, 
introduced in that body the bill establishing the 
Polytechnic School at San Luis Obispo. 



IN THE LEGISLATURE OF 1899. 



The bill providing for the school was duly pre- 
sented in the Senate early in the session of the 

[53] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

legislature of 1899 by Hon. S. C. Smith, where 
it received careful consideration and was ap- 
proved by that body. 

Meeting opposition in the Assembly, it was 
thought necessary to send a delegation to Sacra- 
mento to urge the passage of the bill by that 
body, and Messrs. A. S. Whitsel and Lawrence 
Harris were sent on that mission. A bitter con- 
troversy existed in the Assembly regarding the 
payment of bounty for coyote scalps in which our 
Assemblyman had taken an active interest in 
opposition for which his enemies declared punish- 
ment by voting against the Polytechnic School 
bill. March 8 Assemblvman Burnett tele- 
graphed his friends that the vote on the bill was 
23 for and 30 against, thereby defeating the 
measure for this session. Sorrow and indigna- 
tion were expressed by all parties in San Luis 
Obispo. While many were discouraged, declar- 
ing no hope of success, others determined to 
continue the effort for another campaign. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1900. 

At the election in November a member of the 
Assembly representing San Luis Obispo was to 

[54J 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

be chosen, for which Warren M. John was nomi- 
nated by the Republicans. The most important 
question of local affairs was the renewal of the 
strug^gle for the Polytechnic School. All parties 
professed friendship for the measure. During^ 
the several years it had been before the people 
with partial successes, and disappointments seem- 
ingly so unjustified, the reasons for it being, the 
propriety of this locality for the school and the 
needs and scope of such an institution in general 
had been so fully set forth that there was no 
open opposition to it locally. It had, however, 
enemies who hid themselves behind economic 
principles and prejudices against all innovations 
of progress; others jealous of localities and indi- 
viduals and "statesmen" desirous of party record 
of low rates of taxation. These opponents were 
to be overcome by the representatives of San 
Luis Obispo in the ensuing legislature. Hon. S. 
C. Smith, of Bakersfield, the original introducer 
and persistent advocate of the bill continued as 
Senator for the district and Hon. Warren M. 
John was elected to the Assembly. 

In January, 1901, the Legislature convened at 
Sacramento and among the first bills presented 
was that by Senator Smith for the Polytechnic 

[55] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

School at San Luis Obispo. Even at this date 
there was strenuous opposition to the measure, 
still in advance of the times, but it successfully 
passed both houses and became the law as 

follows: 

POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL BILL. 



March, 1901, an Act to establish the California 
Polytechnic School in the County of San Luis 
Obispo, and making- an appropriation therefor. 

The people of the State of California repre- 
sented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as fol- 
lows: 

There is hereby established in the County of 
San Luis Obispo, at or near the city of San Luis 
Obispo, a school to be known as the California 
Polytechnic School. The purpose of this school 
is to furnish to young people of both sexes men- 
tal and manual training in the arts and sciences, 
including agriculture, mechanics, engineering, 
business methods, domestic economy, and such 
other branches as will fit the students for the 
non-professional walks of life. This act shall be 
liberally construed, to the end that the school 
established hereby may at all times contribute to 
the industrial welfare of the State of California^ 

[56J 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

Sec. 2. Within thirty days after this act goes 
into effect the governor shall appoint five per- 
sons, who, with the governor and superintendent 
of public instruction, shall constitute the board of 
trustees of said school. 

Sec. 3. The said trustees, as provided for in 
section two of this act, are hereby appointed and 
created trustees of said California Polytechinic 
School, with full power and authority to select a 
site for the permanent location of said school. 
Said trustees shall within ninety days after the 
passage of this act, examine the different sites 
offered by the people of San Luis Obispo county 
for the location of said school; and the site select- 
ed by them shall be and remain the permanent 
site for said school. But no money shall be ex- 
pended for or on said site, until a deed in fee 
simple has been made for land so selected to the 
State of California. 

Sec. 4. The term of office of the trustees 
shall be four years, except that in appointing the 
first board of trustees, the governor shall appoint 
two members for one year, one for two years, 
one for three years and one for four years. They 
shall be governed and regulated by the laws gov- 
erning and regulating the normal schools of this 

[57] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

State, in so far as the same are applicable to an 
institution of this kind. 

Sec. 5. The sum of fifty thousand dollars is 
hereby appropriated out of the moneys belonging 
to the State not otherwise appropriated, for the 
purchase of a site, the construction and furnish- 
ing of the necessary buildings, and the mainten- 
ance of said school. 

Sec. 6. The controller of the state is hereby 
authorized to draw warrants from time to time, 
as the work shall progress, in favor of said board 
of trustees, upon their requisition for the same, 
and the state treasurer is directed to pay the 
same. 

Sec. 7. The moneys hereby appropriated 
shall be expended under the direction of the said 
board of trustees. 

Sec. 8. This act shall take effect and be in 
force from and after January first, nineteen hun- 
dred and two. 

GOOD WORD FOR SAN LUIS OBISPO. 

The Salinas Index, January 6, (1899) says: 
•'Senator S. C. Smith has introduced a bill to 
establish a Polytechnic School at San Luis 

[58J 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

Obispo and providing for an appropriation of 
$iOD,ooo therefor. Within thirty days after the 
passage of the act the Governor shall appoint five 
persons to act in conjunction with the Governor 
and Superintendent of Public Instruction as a 
board of trustees, who shall have full power to 
select a site for said school. All right, Saint 
Louis the Bishop, you are our neighbor and the 
Index is in favor of that school." 



PREPARE FOR THE GREAT SCHOOL 
(dec. 17, 1901.) 

The time is near when the act for the estab- 
lishing of the Polytechnic School will go into 
effect, which will be on the first day of January, 
1902. While the law does not make it absolutely 
necessary for our citizens to do anything in the 
matter, we all know that certain things are re- 
quired ot us if we would make sure at the begin- 
ning to prepare for the future in a way that will 
leave no regrets tor injurious or fatal neglect. 
Nature and fate are on our side so conspicuously 
that we should rejoice with an exceeding great 
joy and work forward with a will seconding with 

[59] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

energy and liberality all that has been done for 
us. Once more may I be permitted to refer to 
some of our peculiar advantages. The city of 
San Luis Obispo is so located, with mountains, 
hills, valleys and peaks surrounding, as to give it 
a climate the most genial, and free from anything 
objectional, damaging or disagreeable, of any of 
the most favored localities of Southern Califor- 
nia, and not surpassed anywhere in the known 
world. This is known by experience and is 
proven by official statistics. But this most 
specially favored area is that within view of the 
Court House of San Luis Obispo. Farther west- 
ward the sea breeze of summer is often chilly, 
raw and tog-laden, and eastward of the mountain 
the heat of summer days is excessive and the 
frosts of night destructive. But this is not dis- 
paraging the coast climate which is generally 
superior to that of any other section of the Union. 
Our other next great advantage is in facility 
and convenience of transportation by sea and by 
land. The great Southern Pacific Railroad now 
runs a multitude of trains through the city, hav- 
ing here a division station the most important 
between San Francisco and Los Angeles, a dis- 
tance of above five hundred miles established for 

[6oJ 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

all time, thus fixing San Luis Obispo as the city 
of the Coast Division and of the county. We 
have the rivalry of El Moro and Grover and 
Paso Robles and Arroyo Grande and others as- 
piring, but with the Court House, the Division 
Station and the Polytechnic School here all pre- 
tentions of rivalry have faded away and vanished 
forever. With this we must feel that the possi- 
bilities of San Luis Obispo are greater and its 
future brighter than any other locality between 
San Francisco and Los Angeles. 

Now let us care that there is no lapse of op- 
portunity nor mistake made in the securing and 
planting the Polytechnic School which the Legis- 
lature of California has so graciously ordered at 
this place. In is true that the wording of the 
Act is a little ambiguous and the appropriation 
small, but the intent is plain and there can be no 
honest dispute on technicalities. The beginning 
is important and the future will be according to 
the wisdom displayed in its establishing and man- 
agement. We must prepare and look forward to 
the day when the ^'California Polytechnic School" 
will become one of the great institutions of the 
State, and, therefore, of the Pacific Coast. Per- 
haps it will be a part of the State University. 

[6.] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

That it will be great in usefulness, if properly es- 
tablished, is assured as all thoughtful and practi- 
cal persons appreciate its necessity. The classi- 
cal education afforded by the ordinary university 
is not necessary nor desirable to the great ni-ass 
of the people, and still the government is asked 
to guarantee an education to all. The old sys-^ 
tern has been to go up from the alphabet through 
the Latin and Greek languages. And everybody 
wants his share of what the government provides 
so all exert themselves to go thro ugh the univer- 
sity. This system has been carried too far; edu- 
cation of the head only. Now the world is en- 
tering upon a new system — education of the 
hand as well as the head. As we have the kin- 
dergarten for infancy we will have the manual 
training for youth. To establish such a school in 
the country is the desire of the people of the 
State. On this subject the Pacific Rural Press 
says, **The beginning of a rural Polytechnic 
School in California is an item of wide interest 
and will command the approval of all who are 
aware of the needs of such opportunities for the 
instruction and of the great progress which is be- 
ing made in other parts of the world in their de- 
velopment. There will soon be established at 

[62] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

San Luis Obispo an institution to be known as 
the ^California Polytechnic School.' The pur- 
pose of this school is to furnish to young- people 
of. both sexes mental and manual training in the 
arts and sciences, including agriculture, mechanics, 
engineering, business methods, domestic econ- 
omy and such branches as will fit the students 
for the non-professional walks of life/' 

It is plainly to be seen that this is to be one of 
the most important and popular institutions of 
the State, To San Luis Obispo it will be of the 
greatest importance in its* refining and elevating 
influences, attracting a high class of population, 
and from its graduates establishing industries and 
developing resources now unthought of on this 
benighted coast. The object of this article is to 
call attention to the importance of this matter 
and arouse our citizens to the proper exertions to 
advance the purpose of the Act. 

First, it is required to select a site for the 
school. This should be within the circle of hills 
that embrace the city of San Luis Obispo. Such 
was the intention of the application for the school 
and of the efforts for the passage of the Act. 
This intention cannot now be thwarted but by 
treachery to the interests of the school and of 

[63] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

this city. It has been intimated that the clause 
in the bill reading ''at or near the city of San 
Luis Obispo" means anywhere in the county, and 
that people in distant parts may offer sites for the 
school. This may be. There are proper and 
grand sites within view of this city. If we would 
have the school such as it was intended, some of 
these must be selected ready for the acceptance 
of the trustees to be appointed by the governor^ 
With the many available sites in view of and 
convenient to the city, it would be a mockery of 
the plan and future of the school to select a site 
elsewhere. Citizens should take this matter in 
hand at once. Myron Angel. 



TRUSTEES OF THE POLYTECHNIC 
SCHOOL NAMED. 



(Press Dispatch to Tribune,) 

San Luis Obispo, Feb. 3, 1902. — Governor 
Gage has appointed the trustees for the CahT- 
ornia state polytechnic school, which is to be 
located at this place and for which the last legis- 
lature made an appropriation of $50,000. War- 

[64] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

ren M. John, the assemblyman from this county, 
received a telegram this afternoon from W. H. 
Davis, the crovernor's private secretary, which 
stated that Mr. John and William Graves of this 
city, State Senator S. C. Smith of Bakersfield, 
F. A. Hihn of Santa Cruz, and E. J. Wickson of 
San Francisco had been appointed trustees of the 
polytechnic school. The governor and superin- 
tendent of public instruction are ex-officio mem- 
bers of the board. 

The bill passed the state senate at three dif- 
ferent sessions — those of 1897, 1899 and 1901. 
It received favorable consideration in the 
assembly in 1897, but was finally vetoed by Gov- 
ernor Budd. In 1899 the bill was again consid- 
ered in both houses but failed to pass the 
assembly. At the session of 1901, however, it 
passed both houses and received the signature of 
the governor. 

The scope of the school has not yet been fully 
determined, but it will be placed on the broadest 
lines possible and its purpose is to provide a 
technical education for the youth of the state. 



[65] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 



ESTABLISHING THE SCHOOL. 



THE PROPOSED PLAN OF ESTABLISHING AN AGRICUL- 
TURAL EXPERIMENT STATION AS A SUBSTITUTE 
FOR THE POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL OR AS A 
FOUNDATION FOR IT. 

[Tribune Mar. nth, 1902.] 

Tomorrow the Trustees of the San Luis 
Obispo Polytechnic School will meet in this 
place to select a site for the school and to decide 
upon the scope and character of the work to be 
taken up. No definite action was taken by the 
Trustees at the meeting held in San Francisco 
on Saturday last, owing to the absence of Sena- 
tor Smith, but the scope and purpose of the work 
were discussed at length; and according to the 
San Francisco Chronicle, *'it was practically de- 
cided to confine the work of the school to agri- 
cultural matters. These will include dairying, 
poultry raising, stock breeding and scientific con- 
sideration of horticultural problems, forestry and 
kindred matters/* It has been the general un- 
derstanding of the people of San Luis Obispo 

[66] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

that the act passed by the State Legislature pro- 
vides for the establishment of a Polytechnic 
School, and not an Agricultural Experiment 
Station, — as it will be if the above outline of the 
work to be taken up is correct. 

The decision of the Trustees in this respect, as 
reported in the San Francisco papers and quoted 
in the Tribune as correct, therefore caused con- 
siderable disappointment and chagrin to those 
who have been agitating the subject of a Poly- 
technic School for the past few years, and who 
when the bill was passed, congratulated them- 
selves that their efforts had at last been success- 
ful. 

A Polytechnic School is understood to be an 
educational establishment in which instruction is 
given in many arts and sciences, more especially 
with reference to their practical application; and 
the mechanical and industrial arts and sciences 
are especially emphasized. The special act 
establishing the California Polytechnic School 
near the city of San Luis Obispo states that 
'*The purpose of this school is to furnish to 
young people of both sexes mental and manual 
training in the arts and sciences, including agri- 
culture, mechanics, engineering, business methods, 

[67] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

domestic economy, and such other branches as 
will tit the students for the non-protessional walks 
of life. This act shall be liberally construed, to 
the end that the school established hereby may 
at all times contribute to the industrial welfare of 
the State of California." If the Board of Trus- 
tees now limit the scope and purpose of the work 
to Agricultural matters, as has been announced, 
they defeat the object for which the bill was 
formed, and substitute a dairy, poultry and stock 
breeding ranch, which would be of comparatively 
little interest or benefit to the city and county of 
San Luis Obispo. 

Warren M. John, the temporary chairman of 
the Board of Trustees, stated in an interview 
that, while no definite action had been taken at 
the meeting held in San Francisco, it was the 
general opinion of the Trustees present that the 
present scope of the work should comprise simply 
Agricultural matters, including dairying, poultry 
raising, etc. **We decided," said Mr. John, 
'' that lOO acres of good farming land should be 
purchased for experimental purposes, and that 
the work should be limited to agricultural and 
kindred interests for the first few years. In the 
four or five years, when other appropriations 

[68J 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

shall have been made, the scope of the work can 
be broadened and the mechanical and domestic 
arts and sciences can be taken up. At first it 
will be more like an experimenta 1 station, but 
that will be only for a few years. " 

Certainly a Polytechnic School, with all its 
various branches cannot be completed in a day. 
It must have a beginnincr, and from that begin- 
ning the complete and thoroughly equipped in- 
stitution must develop. But that beginning must 
be such that development is absolutely necessary, 
and itself should be the foundation for that de- 
velopment. In this light, the wisdom of estab- 
lishing an agricultural experiment station as the 
foundation for a complete Polytechnic School, is 
questionable; and if this is the policy of the 
Board of Trustees the future success and import- 
ance of the institution is extremely doubtful. 
There are at the present time several such sta- 
tions established in various parts of the State of 
California, conducted as sub-stations, adjunctive 
to the general station at Berkeley; and whenever 
the California Polytechnic School reduces itself 
to an agricultural experiment station, even for a 
few years, it loses that individuality which it 
should have as an independent educational insii- 

1 69] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

tution, and sinks into a subordinate position from 
which it will require greater efforts to raise it 
than it did to call it into existence. 

The fifty thousand dollars oriorinally appro- 
priated for the establishment of the school will, 
in all probability, be sufficient to establish and 
equip a sub-experiment station, and if that station 
is at once established and equipped it will be ex- 
tremely difficult to secure further appropriations 
for introducing other branches, —for the experi- 
ment station will be complete in itself. 

There are other branches included within the 
scope of a Polytechnic School, however, which 
could easily be established as a beginning and 
which would naturally and necessarily lead to the 
further development and ultimate completion of 
the plan; and the people of San Luis Obispo 
county hope that the Trustees will not force the 
institution to begin its existence divested of all 
individuality and subordinated to an inferior posi- 
tion from which it will have difficulty in rising. 



PUBLIC EXPRESSION. 



The meeting mentioned in the Tribune was 
held at the Court House, Hon. S. C. Smith, 

[70] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

Chairman of the Board presided, and trustees F. 
A. Hihn, William Graves, Hon. Warren M. 
John, Prof. E. J. Wickson and Superintendent 
of Public Instruction Thos. J. Kirk, ex-officio, 
were present. Many citizens were in attendance. 
March 12th, 1902, was a momentous day in the 
history of the Polytechnic School. The discus- 
sion was to decide the scope and intention of the 
school. Its destiny hung in the balance. The 
Act of establishment was broad and liberal, com- 
prehending a useful and brilliant course. The 
plan appeared in advance of the times. The pre- 
vailing systems of the farm, even at that late day, 
were archaic and almost degrading, and, while 
many saw nothing better, there were others who 
thought they could be improved by education. 

Some influential people deemed the including 
of the mechanical arts, engineering, domestic 
science and academic studies in the curriculum as 
impracticable and visionary. Moreover, there 
were some enemies who appeared to desire the 
crippling of the enterprise. 

A condensed report of the proceedings was 
published in the Tribune and further abreviated 
here. Judge McD. R. Venable opened the 
discussion, speaking at length upon the desir- 

I71] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

ability of an agricultural school making a specialty 
of dairying for which this region was well adapt- 
ed. Messrs. Brooks, Ballou, McA lister and 
others favored the plan of Judge Venable. 

The tide was turned by the vigorous advocacy 
of a broad Polytechnic school by County Clerk 
John Whicher. 

Mr. Whicher conceded the great importance 
of the dairying interest in this county, but was 
forced to take issue with the gentlemen who had 
preceeded him in regard to the beginning of this 
school. He called the attention of the Trustees 
to the fact that the population of this State in- 
cludes a large number of female children, and 
that, as the law and public sentiment would not 
allow them to be killed off^ some provision should 
be made for their education as well as the boys. 
"I am in favor of starting this school as a Poly- 
technic school, where household economy, black- 
smithing, carpentering, masonery, engineering 
and other trades are taught as well as agriculture 
and the work of the garden, orchard and the 
farm. What the State needs more, especially 
now, is a school where the industrial trades are 
taught in every branch by which people earn a 

[72] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

living, to prepare the boys and girls to rely upon 
their own resources." 

Mr. A. M. Hardie of Cayucos strongly con- 
tended for a Polytechnic school, saying, ''If this 
is made a dairy school it will be a disappoint- 
ment to every family throughout the county. " 

Mr. Benj. Brooks spoke again, agreeing with 
Mr. Hardie that the school should meet the de- 
mands of the people. 

Trustee Kirk said, '' The ultimate scope of the 
school was not under discussion, but what is best 
to commence with, and it seems to me that the 
agricultural and dairying features were the best 
to btart with." 

Mr. Dawson Lowe spoke for a polytechnic 
school, and numerous others for and against. 

Mr. Whicher, in behalf of the City Council, 
invited the Trustees to a banquet in the evening 
at the Hotel Ramona, and the discussion was 
adjourned for one hour. 

During the intermission Mr. D. Lowe, who 
has a site to offer just a mile north of the Court 
House, had placed on the table around which the 
Trustees assembled an exhibit of the products 
from the land he offers, consisting of navel 
oranges, lemons, four varieties of corn, barley, 

[73\ 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

English walnuts and garvanzas, all very fine and 
making a splendid showing of the possibilities of 
the land. 

H- AFTERNOON SESSION. 

Thos. Barrett was first called upon to give his 
views. He thought a dairy did not answer the 
purpose of a Polytechnic School. He urged it 
to be started on the polytechnic plan. 

Myron Angel made a splendid talk and was 
heartily cheered. He said other schools had 
been established on old lines, but that the evolu- 
tion of society required a new plan. The Poly- 
technic School should be such as to meet the 
changing demands of the social evolution which 
Senator Smith and himself and others had dis- 
cussed in times past. 

^'England/' he said, **has become a world-wide 
nation because of her methods and diversified re- 
sources. But across the broad breast of America 
lie a hundred Englands, each with fertile soil, 
rich in all the useful and precious minerals 
known, lakes and rivers for navigation and 
power, a genial climate and a government foster- 
ing all. America, to develop these infinite re- 

[74J 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

sources, needs scientific and practical research in 
all lines. 

'*Our own California is pre-eminent in all that 
makes hum^inity comfortable, happy, rich and 
powerful. On her eastern border rises one of 
the orrandest mountain chains of the globe, bear- 
inor its white crest half a thousand miles to the 
north, and rearing its peaks near three miles into 
the sky. In this lofty Sierra Nevada are a hun- 
dred never failing streams of the purest water for 
the uses of man, and so long as the atmosphere 
lifts the dews of the ocean and deposits them as 
snow on the mountains so long will the water 
flow giving the pure element to cities, irrigation 
to the soil and electricity for light, heat, manufac- 
tures, transportation and all power when the min- 
eral fuel is exhausted from the earth, and to 
teach men and women to engineer these works 
and mould this wealth will be the function of this 
school." 

Mr. Angel spoke of several great colleges he 
had visited where domestic science and all the 
mechanic trades, arts and engineering are taught 
as a worthy citizens education. We are coming 
to a higher plane where these advantages will be 
more generally distributed. He hoped the 

[75] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

school would be located where it would have 
room to expand in its buildings, shops and land- 
work, and upon principles that would enable it to 
cover all lines and become an institution to which 
all America can come for instruction. Nature 
has fixed the location of a great school here mid- 
way of the genial and equible climatic belt which 
extends from San Diego to San Francisco. 

Prof Wickson, of the State University and a 
Trustee, was called upon and gave what he con- 
sidered the proper scope of the school from the 
point of the law and the needs of the State. He 
believed the school should be rural in character 
rather than to attempt to cover the more purely 
technical branches of most of the older estab- 
lished colleges. It should be fundamental and 
practical, and still a place that no schools at 
present are prepared to fill. He said the Presi- 
dent of the University urged them to make a 
school that would teach a lady pupil to make a 
good pumpkin pie. 

At four o'clock the Trustees went into execu- 
tive session to examine the proposals submitted 
for sites for the school, of which there were six- 
teen. 

[76J 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 



THE BANQUET. 



In the eveninor an elaborate banquet was given 
the trustees, attended by many citizens. Num- 
erous enthusiastic speeches were made. Mr. 
Benj. Brooks, Editor of The .Tribune, spoke of a 
banquet that had been given in that same room 
and at that same spot some five years since, 
when a committee, chiefly members of the State 
Legislature, came here to examine into the ques- 
tion of the proposed Polytechnic School and to 
vie^ the sites. He stated that it had been a 
long, hard fight from that time to the present, 
and he would call upon Hon. S. C. Smith, who 
had been continually in the fight, to speak on 
the subject of the California Polytechnic School* 



ADDRESS OF HON. S. C. SMITH. 



*'It was during my first session in the Senate, 
in 1895, that I received a letter from Myron 
Angel on the subject of a State School for this 
place. The school originally suggested by Mr, 
Angel was a Normal School. I prepared a bill 

1 77] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

for the school, but later suggested to Mr. Angel 
that the plan be changed to that of a Polytechnic 
School. There were three Normal Schools in 
the State already, and San Diego had a bid in 
for a fourth, so I considered the chances for a 
Normal School in this place very poor. In fact, 
I am not in favor of Normal Schools at all. As 
they are conducted at the present time they are 
humbugs, holding out to young men and young 
women false ideas of education. So I was in 
favor of an Industrial School rather than a Nor- 
mal School, and I finally substituted a bill for a 
Polytechnic School, which was passed, but Gov- 
ernor Budd, who had an economical mania, put 
it to sleep. 

*ln the next session the bill was again taken 
up, and a committee was then sent to this place 
to look over the proposed site and to decide 
upon the desirableness of establishing the school 
here. The reception of that committee made a 
good and lasting impression, and every member 
has been favorable to the bill since that time. 
On that committee was Sig. Bettman. the hum- 
orist of the lower house, and he was so favorably 
impressed by the reception given the committee 
that he exerted a good influence in both houses 

[78] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

in behalf of the bill, and assisted greatly in bring- 
ing it to a successful issue. The bill was voted 
on on Washington's birthday, 1899. I remember 
when I introduced it I stated that was an auspic- 
ious day, and augured well for the* measure; but 
the bill was defeated. 

*'I went to the session of 1901 with a greater 
purpose and a stronger desire to show the people 
of the county that I was sincere, and I redoubled 
my energies and efforts and succeeded in getting 
the bill through. 

**But the people of this county do not know 
how much they owe to Assemblyman John for 
the successful passage of this bill. I handled it 
in the Senate, but it was a far different proposi- 
tion to pass the bill before the Assembly. John 
was young and inexperienced, but the successful 
manner in which he handled the subject speaks 
well for his earnestness and ability, and places 
this county under a deep and lasting debt to him. 
I remember the day the bill passed before the 
lower house. I was sitting in the Senate cham- 
ber, and was just about to go over to the 
Assembly hall and help John along, for I knew 
he would have a hard fight. But just as I was 
about to go to his assistance, I saw him enter the 

1 79] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

Senate chamber and come toward me. The 
smile on his face was at least a mile wide, and I 
then knew he was coming to tell me that the bill 
had passed. And so it had passed, but there 
was still another battle to be fought -it must be 
signed by the Governor. 

'*A few days later I pocketed the bill, and 
went down to take the Governor's temperature. 
*No new institutions this year,' said the Gov- 
ernor, for he was troubled with the economical 
mania about that time. If any of you gentlemen 
ever serve the State in the Legislature^ may the 
Lord deliver you from a parsimonious Governor, 
who imagines he is doing the best thing for the 
State when he is not spending its money. I ex- 
plained to the Governor the importance of the 
bill, and told him that the establishment of that 
school would be a landmark in his administration, 
and that it would win him greater favor than 
anything else he could possibly do for the people. 
I left the bill with him, and told him to study it 
over, and soon after that I heard that it was 
being more favorably looked upon. The plan of 
the bill was the thing that took Governor Gage. 
The idea that the graduates of the college should 
go back to their homes better prepared to serve 

[80] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

their State and their fellow creatures by being 
more proficient in the mechanical and industrial 
crafts and arts, favorably impressed him and led 
him to see that the bill should not be passed by 
or turned down. 

**And so the bill was signed, and the joy that 
was experienced by the people of this county was 
shared by those who had labored for the interests 
of the Polytechnic School in the State's capitol.'* 

The persistent and able efforts of Hon. S. Q 
Smith in the Senate and of Hon. Warren M, 
John in the Assembly at last had triumphed. 

Both are ambitious young men in the early 
years of public life, and however high their aspir- 
ations or political favor may carry either or both 
of them, or in whatever condition of civil life, 
their faithful and successful labors in establishing" 
SO grand and useful an institution as the Calif- 
ornia Polytechnic School will stand as a monu- 
ment to their pride while living and of honor for- 
ever. The appreciation of the people is shown 
in the election of Mr. Smith to Congress and the 
re-election of Mr, John to the Assembly- Both 
were made Trustees of the school 



[81] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 



WARREN M. JOHN, 

the present representative of San Luis Obispo 
county in the Assembly, was born in Allen coun- 




ty, Kansas, November 27, 1874. His early boy- 
hood days were spent on a farm near Logans- 

[82J 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

port, Indiana. He attended the Logansport 
schools, until comincr to San Luis Obispo, Cali- 
fornia, in November, 1887. After completing 
his studies in the Oak Park district school, he at- 
tended the San Luis Obispo Union High School, 
entering that school the day it was first opened, 
it being the first high school in the county. 
Later he attended the Arroyo Grande Union 
High School. 

In 1896 Mr, John's name was presented to ihe 
Republican County Convention for the nomina- 
tion for the Assembly, but before a ballot was 
taken he withdrew his name from the considera- 
tion of the convention. In 1898 he was nomina- 
ted for the Assembly by acclamation, but was de- 
feated at the polls by Hon. J. K. Burnett by the 
narrow margin of 31 votes. In the Republican 
County Conventions of 1900, 1902, 1904, and 
1906, he was nominated in each instance by ac- 
clamation for the Assembly and elected, receiving 
in 1906 the largest majority ever given him. 

In the Legislature of 1901 he assisted in pass- 
ing the bill establishing the Polytechnic School 
in San Luis Obispo, and has ever since been a 
member of the Board of Trustees of the institu- 
tion and a constant worker for the school's wel- 

[83] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

tare. Since 1894 Mr. John has been connected 
with the San Luis Obispo Tribune. 



LEROY ANDERSON 

is a native of Seneca county, New York. He 
was born Dec. 4, 1866, of Scotch parentage, and 
raised on a farm in the famous fruit belt of the 



^y /■''.'!■' 








^■in' 


m 




IM 


■a 1^11 


■ '-S'''' 


■» 





Empire state, and received his early education in 
the country schools and in the high schools of 
Waterloo and Seneca Falls. He taught a coun- 
try school for a year after finishing the high 

[84J 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL, 

school, and then entered Cornell University, tor 
which he had received a free scholarship upon a 
competitive examination in Seneca county. At 
the time of graduation in 1896, he was granted a 
Fellowship in Agriculture at Cornell for the fol- 
lowing year, and at the close of the year received 
the degree of Master of Science in Agriculture. 
From 1897 ^o 1900 he was assistant in Dairy 
Husbandry at Cornell. In the latter year he ac- 
cepted a call from the University of California to 
organize a dairy department, and became instruct- 
or in Animal and Dairy Husbandry. In June. 
1902, he returned td Cornell to receive the degree 
of Ph. D., upon a thesis concerning investigations 
of various dairy problems. During the same year 
he resigned his instructorship in the University 
of California to accept the position of Director of 
the California Polytechnic School. 



PROFESSOR ANDERSON CHOSEN. 

[From San Francisco Examiner May 27th, 1902.] 

The last Legislature appropriated $50,000 for 
the establishment of the California Polytechnic 
School at San Luis Obispo. The commission 
charged with locating and starting the school 

1.85] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

consists of Governor Gage, State Superintendent 
of Public Instruction Kirk, Professor E. J. Wick- 
son of the University of California, F. A. Hihn 
of Santa Cruz, Assemblyman Warren M. John, 
and William Graves of San Luis Obispo, and 
Senator S. C. Smith, of the Thirty-fourth Sena- 
torial District. 

Some time ago this commission selected a site 
of 280 acres about a mile from the court house 
in the town of San Luis Obispo, and yesterday 
another meeting was held at the Palace Hotel for 
the purpose of taking over the deeds and select- 
ing the head of the school. Professor Leroy An- 
derson of the State University, was unanimously 
chosen Director, at a salary of $200 a month. 

For the past two years Professor Anderson 
has had charge of the Dairy Department of the 
University at Berkeley. Before that he had been 
for four years an instructor in the Agricultural 
Department of Cornell University. 

At first none but the agricultural branches, 
such as dairying, horticulture and entomology, 
will be taught at San Luis Obispo, but later it is 
expected to broaden the scope of instruction and 
embrace various trades. The school cannot be 
opened untill after the first of next year, but 

[86] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

meantime Professor Anderson is to visit, at his 
own expense, similar schools in the Eastern 
States, and then superintend the establishment of 
the San Luis Obispo institution. 

LET IT BE UNANIMOUS. 

Ed. Tribune : After the meeting of the Board 
of Trustees of the California Polytechnic School 
was held in the city of San Luis Obispo on March 
8th, I asked for a word, through the columns of 
the Tribune, with the people of the county, rela- 
tive to the policy to be pursued by the Board of 
Trustees in defining the scope of instruction in 
the school. The assurance was given the people 
then that the intent of the law would be fully and 
completely carried into effect, to-wit: the building 
up of a Polytechnic School. That pledge the 
people of the county may rest assured will be 
kept by every member of the board to whose cus- 
tody the institution has been entrusted. 

I desire again to say a word through the col- 
umns of the Tribune relative to another matter, 
and a most important one. It will not seem out 
of place that these letters are written. The only 
desire is to take the people into a full confidence, 

1.87] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

and at every point in the deliberations leading up 
to the establishment of the school, seek their 
counsel and advice. 

Individuals are bound to differ upon questions 
of public policy ; they are bound to differ upon 
the methods to be pursued in carrying into effect 
a certain policy. Within the honest difference of 
opinion of the citizenship of this county rests its 
safety and stability. Upon the great principle of 
patriotism and the ultimate success of an institu* 
tution, the people are a unit> It is needless to 
rehash the old threadbare statement that in unity 
there is strength, for that has been exemplified 
in every crisis which has confronted our nation. 
So far, so good. 

Now, let us discuss the future of the California 
Polytechnic School; let us enter the arena of 
public thought and there thresh over our individ- 
ual views, if they differ and conflict, and then 
emerge from this self-same arena a united people, 
loyal to the California Polytechnic School and 
dedicating our best efforts to the success of the 
institution. 

The site for the school has been selected. Men 
differed upon this question widely. Fourteen 
sites were offered and only one could be selected. 

[88] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

As an an individual member of the board, I de- 
sire to thank the people who so kindly offered 
their advice and counsel upon this very important 
matter. All were honest and sincere in their 
opinions. The, advice of all could not be heeded. 
If it were the institution would be strewn in sec- 
tions all over the territory contiguous to the city 
of San Luis Obispo. 

It was but natural that the people should differ 
upon the selection of a site, but with all fair mind- 
ed people, the only consideration of the future is 
the success of the school. The work is only 
commencing; the element of strength lies in the 
enthusiasm of the people. 

This enthusiasm will not be lacking. Wherev- 
er it is withheld by any person or persons, it will 
be promptly reported to the people of the county 
as prompted by ulterior motives. But nothing of 
that sort is anticipated. The strength of a com- 
munity is built upon a unanimity of sentiment 
among the people. Brighter days are dawning 
upon our county. We have something to work 
for. Near this city has been located an institu- 
tion v^hich in ten years will be the most popular 
in the state. It is a state institution. Yet the 
great state of California entrusts its success in a 

[89] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

great measure to the active work and loyalty of 
the people of San Luis Obispo county. The 
state will not be disappointed in this regard. 
Respectfully, 

Warren M. John. 

THE VACANT TRUSTEESHIP. 



By George Breck Staniford, Editor of the Breeze, Sept. 12, 1902. 

The death of William Graves creates a va- 
cancy in the Board of Trustees of the Polytech- 
nic School. The vacancy of right should be 
filled by a resident of San Luis Obispo, and the 
man to whom the appointment should go is 
Myron Angel. 

Myron Angel is the father of the Polytechnic 
School. He wrote the first article in the Breeze 
which inaugurated the movement that led to the 
final passage of the act founding the school and 
locating it near this city. But for Mr. Angel's 
persistent efforts there would have been no Poly- 
technic School. 

No man in this community is better equipped 
for the trusteeship than Mr. Angel. By per- 
sonal observation, deep study and careful investi- 

[90J 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL, 

gation he has familiarized himself with the sub- 
ject and is familiar with the methods and work- 
ings of the most successful schools of this char- 
acter in the United States and Europe. He is a 
thoroughly progressive man, and would in every 
way be a valuable acquisition to the Board of 
Trustees of the Polytechnic School. 

The citizens of this town as a fitting recogni- 
tion of Mr. Angel's efforts in behalf of the Poly- 
technic School ought to unite in a petition to 
Governor Gage to appoint him Trustee. 

GOVERNOR NAMES SHACKELFORD, 

A notification to Hon. Warren M. John, dated 
Sicramento, Sept. 13, 1902, states that R. M 
Shackelford, of Paso Robles, was appointed by 
Governor Gage yesterday as a trustee of the 
California Polytechnic School to fill the vacancy 
caused by the death of William Graves. 

The appointment of Mr. Shackelford as Trus- 
tee of the Polytechnic School was eminently suit- 
able. During many years he had been actively 
in business in the county as General Manager of 
the Salinas Valley Lumber Co. and Southern 
Pacific Milling and Warehouse Co., with head- 

[91] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

quarters at Paso Robles. In educational matters 
he has always taken a leading interest, serving 
several terms as Trustee o the Public School of 
Paso Robles, proving his devotion by bringing 
the school to a first class standard. 



DOORS OF SCHOOL OPEN. 

PRACTICAL WORK OF POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL 
IS ON IN EARNEST. 



A SHORT TALK BY DIRECTOR ANDERSON" CHIEF 

EVENT ATTENDANCE IS FAIR — FORMAL 

DEDICATION LATER. 



Tribune, Oct. i, 1903. 

Today, although there will be no ceremony 
nor ostentation, marks the actual beginning of 
the usefulness of a great institution of learning, — 
the California Polytechnic school. 

At nine o'clock this forenoon Director Ander- 
son will gather the handful of students who have 
arrived, in the dormitory parlor and give them a 
talk in regard to the new institution and its work. 
After that the teachers will take charge of such 

[92J 



> 

m 

W 
O 




CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

students as beloncr in their departments and the 
actual work of the school will begin. 

Fourteen students and the three instructors 
had arrived last eveninor and one more student is 
expected to arrive this morning. 

The teachers and departments are as follows: 

S. S. Twombley, of the Fullerton high school, 
a graduate of the University of Maine, will in- 
struct in mathematics and the sciences. 

Miss Gwendolyn Stewart, Santa Cruz, a 
graduate of Stanford will have charge of do- 
mestic science and English. Miss Stewart's 
family now reside at Seattle. 

O. L. Heald, Pasadena, a graduate of Throop 
Institute will teach carpentry, and sloyd (wood 
work for girls), also drawing. 

The school is supplied with a stenographer and 
bookkeeper, Miss Naomi Lake, Los Angeles, a 
graduate of Los Angeles Business College. 

The students as at present enrolled are as 
follows: Misses Laura and Irene Righetti and 
Miss Lila Wever, San Luis Obispo; Kent S. 
Knowlton, Port Harford; Allen V. and Charles 
J. Emmert, Arroyo Grande; Miss Mary Bello, 
Morro; Gustavus and Henry Wade, Francis D. 
Buck and Owen Hollister, Goleta, Santa Bar- 

[93] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

bara county; Paul L. Williams, Ventura; Wil- 
liam H. Boswell, Soledad; Herbert H. Cox, 
Morgan Hill; Frank A. Flinn, Decanso, San 
Diego county. 

Director Anderson and wife moved to the 
dormitory yesterday and that building is practi- 
cally finished and in full possession of the school 
management. 

Trustee Shackelford is down from Paso 
Robles. It is not expected that any one except 
those directly connected with the school will Le 
in attendance this morning or at any time until 
the school is opened with formal dedication ex- 
ercises about the middle of November. 

The administration building is just now in the 
hands of the painters and not n:o*e than two or 
three rooms can be made use of for some days. 
A telephone, suburban 21, has been put in at the 
office in the dormitory. 

The beginning of all great institutions is made 
under difficulties, very similar perhaps to those 
encountered in launching the California Polytech- 
nic School. Growth is the watchword for both 
the school and for the brave and earnest young 
people who honor its beginning with their pres- 
ence. 

[94] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 



OPENIiNG OF THE SCHOOL. 



Tribune, Oct, 2, 1903. 

The long looked for opening of the California 
Polytechnic School will be noted with satisfaction 
by many of our residents to whose good effprts 
the splendid culmination was largely due, who ex- 
pended time, thought, money and influence to 
that end when it was only a dream, and the plan 
was scoffed at and derided, but whose work is 
now forgotten and unrecognized. They . have 
their reward in the consciousness of honest and 
unselfish labor well performed, and in their 
pleasure at the triumph at last resulting. San 
Luis Obispo has been fortunate in the past in 
possessing among its citizens so many who had 
its interests at heart and who were willing to de- 
vote themselves to projects for the public good, 
although it might be a certainty that not in their 
time could there come any fruition, in no manner 
could they hope to benefit by their work. The 
history of the last twenty years in the life of our 
town is starred with the names of such sturdy ad- 
vocates of the public interests, most of whom 
unhappily have gone from us and from the world. 

1 95] 



CALIFORNIA' POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

The struggle for the Polytechnic, however, is 
yet so recent that there are still with us many 
who shared in the pioneer efforts in its behalf 
and as we have said they will feel immense satis- 
faction in the happy outcome, and will watch with 
deep interest its successful progress. 

That its success will be great and rapid can 
hardly be doubted. 

It has a wide field and meets a demand that has 
long been felt. It makes for the uplifting of the 
laborer, the dignifying and glorifying of his hand- 
work. It makes a learned profession of every 
branch of industry. It has always been, despite 
the claim of democracy to level all distinctions, 
that brain would have its way, that the superiority 
of the man of learning and trained intelligence 
was necessarily recognized. It tends to the crea- 
tion of a superior class that the advantages of 
thorough education should be confined to those 
callings, fortunately every day growing more nu- 
merous, requiring brainwork chiefly or exclusive- 
ly. It is the proposition of the technical and 
trade schools that brain culture is quite as essen- 
tial in most of the trades and handicrafts, and 
that the superior man may as readily make his 
way to the front in them as in what used to be 

[96] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

distinguished as the three learned professions. 
The Polytechnic School is the college for a re- 
public. 



THE POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 



JOHN S DEMAND THAT ITS COURSE IN MECHANICAL 
INSTRUCTION BE BROADENED IS ENDORSED. 

Tribune, March i, 1904. 

An important meeting of the board of trustees 
of the California Polytechnic School was held in 
San Francisco Saturday. The future policy of 
the school was thoroughly discussed by the trus- 
tees, all of whom were present except Governor 
Pardee. Steps were taken in a decisive way to 
make the institution a thorough polytechnic 
school in which the main features shall be courses 
of study in electrical construction, general iron 
work, blacksmithing, plumbing, with full courses 
in dairying, practical farming, domestic science, 
carpentry, forestry, horticulture and irrigation. 
Instruction in all these branches will be fully 
opened in September of this year, with the ex- 
ception of that of electrical construction, which 

[97J 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

will be inaugurated early in 1905 when the legis- 
lature shall make an appropriation for the pur- 
pose. The matter came up to a vote in the 
board upon the following resolution introduced 
by Trustee Warren M. John of this city who in- 
sisted upon its adoption as meeting the wishes of 
the people of the state: 

''Resolved, that it is the intention of this board 
so far as its present membership is concerned, to 
use every effort to make the California Polytech- 
nic School a useful institution for the young 
people of California, to the end that it shall ulti- 
mately afford them instruction along mechanical 
lines and become, in every sense of the word, a 
thorough polytechnic school. It is the intention 
of this board to so conduct the school that it may 
produce educated farmers, stock raisers, dairymen 
and orchardists, cultured matrons and home- 
makers, as well as skilled mechanics, all of whom 
may be an honor to California and the nation. 
As the school grows in years we feel confident 
that its usefulness and popularity will become 
clearly apparent to the whole state and the Pa- 
cific slope. As the legislature meets the demand 
for financial aid, it is the intention of the board to 
install a complete plant for instruction in black- 

[98J 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

smithing, general iron work, plumbing and elec- 
trical construction. 

The resolution was adopted after a discussion. 

It was decided to admit pupils from the seventh 
grade of the public schools for special one year 
course. 

Director Leroy Anderson made many valuable 
suggestions for the good of the school and the 
board gave its hearty endorsement. Prof. An- 
derson will soon commence the sending out of a 
weekly letter on matters connected with the 
school for publication in the leading newspapers 
of California. 

It was decided to hold a monster basket picnic 
at the school early in May when noted educators 
and prominent citizens will address the people, 
A free barbecue is suggested as a feature. 

The next school year is to be divided into 
three terms of twelve weeks each, the first term 
commencing September 15 and ending Decem- 
ber 15; second, January i to March i; third, 
April I to the middle of June. This was done at 
the suggestion of Director Anderson. His re- 
quest to lower the laboratory fee to $5 per term 
was approved. LOFCi 

[99] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

It was voted to give the pupils one week's rest 
about Easter time. 

The construction of workshops, barns^ etc,, 
was left to a committee composed of Trustees 
Hihn, Shackelford and John. 

On motion of Trustee Wickson, Walter Brad- 
ford of this city, was employed as engineer at $75 
per month, to serve until April 11. 

Two more teachers were added to the faculty, 
James Edwyn Roadhouse of Berkeley, instructor 
in irrigation, forestry and horticulture, and Edwin 
Walter Yount of Oakland, in carpentery. 

VISIT OF THE SENATORS. 

COMMITTEE SEES CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL 
AND GOES AWAY GREATLY PLEASED — EN- 
TERTAINED AT SCHOOL. 

Tribune February i, 1905. 

The Senate Committee came and departed as 
announced. There is no doubt that the gentle- 
men, as well as their lady friends, were wel] 
pleased with California's new industrial school, 
the Polytechnic. 

[looj 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

At lo o'clock Cook's tally-ho and three other 
ricTs departed with the party from the Hotel Ra- 
mona where a goo \ iiii>-ht's rest had been secur- 
ed. The party visited the Board of Trade rooms 
where the superb display pleased them very much. 
They saw the new Presbyterian church and the 
new Carnegie library, both of which are in course 
of construction, the former from Bishop's Peak 
granite and the latter from Los Berros yellow stone 
and pressed brick. They saw the old Mission, 
our well paved streets and the beautiful surround- 
ing scenery. The air was balmy and comfortable 
riding without wraps. 

The drive was then made to the school trrounds 
and buildings, which were at once inspected and 
admired. The fifty. two students were busily 
engaged in practicing the various industrial arts 
now being taught. 

After the inspection a committee meeting was 
held, and Director Anderson and his instructors 
were closely questioned about every phase of the 
work now being accomplished and their hopes 
and recommendations for the future conduct of 
the school. Trustees Hihn and Shackelford 
were present, and spoke for the school 

All of the business of the visit having been 

hoi] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

attended to, the whole party sat down to luii* 
cheon, which was served by the students. 

The senators composing the committee are C» 
\V. Pendleton, P. J. Haskins, E. Woodward, J. 
B, Sanford, A. E. Muenter, F. A. Markey, J. 
Welch, Clifford Coggins, J. McKee, John H. 
Nelson, J. B. Irish. All were present but two. 
The ladies present were Mrs. Woodward, Mrs. 
Sanford, Mrs. Coggins, Mrs. McKee, Mrs. Nel- 
son. and Miss Martin. 

The citizens who went from town were Dr. 
McCurry, Myron Angela A. F. Fitzgerald, and 
Attorney W. H. Spencer. 

The party came back through town, and went 
to the station at 3 o'clock^ whence they departed 
northward. 

POLYTECHNIC SCHOOLS. 



Tribune, Dec. 31, 1904. 

The securing for San Luis Obispo of the State 
Polytechnic School was not accomplished any 
too soon. The demand has now grown for an 
addition to our State University of a great agri- 
cultural college with large farm attached; and in 
several cities manual labor training has been 

[102] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

added to the public school system. All this is 
on the principle of our Polytechnic School. In 
fact such schools, or colleges, of agriculture and 
manual training, are becoming the vogue 
throughout the United Spates. Exceedingly for- 
tunate was San Luis Obispo in getting such a 
school established in advance of the rush or 
never, and now we must endeavor to keep it in 
the advance and maintain it for all that it is 
worth. 

An inspection of our Polytechnic School under 
the courteous guidance of its able director shows 
that its worth is much greater than the ordinary 
mind imagines, and its work already advanced to 
importance. It is indeed astonishing that so 
much progress has been made at this early day 
under the meager appropriations granted for so 
great an undertaking. A fine farm with excels 
lent products ot cultivation and stock, carpentry, 
drawing, engineering, blacksmithing, chemistry, 
mineralogy, assaying, domestic dressmaking, dairy 
products, the usual lessons of the school room, 
the sports of baseball and football, and other mat- 
ters are features of the school, and it is as yet but 
in its infancy. Every possible effort should be 

1.103] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

made to build it up and make it the great institu- 
tion of Midland California. 

The growing popularity of such institutions is 
shown in a strong article in last Sunday's 
Chronicle, saying : /' But few persons outside of 
those immediately connected with the manual 
training department in the San Francisco schools 
are aware how marked and vigorous are the 
growth and development of this practical feature 
of school work. Two years ago about 1700 boys 
in the seventh and eighth grammar grades were 
enrolled for instruction in this branch. Today 
upwarci of 1900 are receiving its benefits, an.d 
from appearances, before another year shall have 
gone by the membership will have passed the 
2000 mark. 

**It is noteworthy that the interest aroused and 
stimulus given in school work through this utili- 
tarian addition to the curriculum has been of 
good effect for a certain proportion of restive 
boys who usually fall out of school during the in- 
terval between the low seventh and the hioh 
eiorhth orrades because of the loss of interest in 
the usual studies, now remain owing to the 
absorbing interest awakened by the manual train- 
ing department. If the department had done no 

[104 J 



o 
o 

o 

!^ 
O 

O 

f 
> 

XfX 
CO 




CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

more than this it would have earned the thanks 
of the community/' 

The Chronicle contains a long article descrip- 
tive of the schools quite applicable to our own, 
showing the intense interest taken in it by the 
pupils and the steps in the development of mech- 
anical genius. But wood is the principal material 
used, saying ^'undoubtedly the largest collection 
of woods on the coast may be seen in this school 
room. There are of Japanese woods alone more 
than 150 varieties. There are also exhibits from 
the Pacific Islands, South Sea Islands, North 
Pacific, Eastern States, some from Europe, sixty- 
eight kinds of wood from Honduras and more 
than fifty of our California woods/' California 
is rich in woods. Such an exhibit is worthy of 
notice and should be in every school, and such a 
collection to which is added specimens of earth, 
building stones, ores, clays and minerals of all 
kinds is in course of growth at the San Luis 
Obispo Polytechnic School. Only in such an 
institution thus gathered, saved, manipulated, 
analyzed and exhibited can the worth of our 
natural resources be ascertained and made 
known. The youth taught in such a school will 
become students of Nature, with the most inter- 

[105] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

esting of books before them all their lives. The 
youth so inspired will investigate and develop 
the resources of the state, adding to their man- 
hood, health and honor as they add to the public 
wealth, ten thousand times more than all the 
cost. How essential then it is that we should 
struggle to maintain and advance the school so 
opportunely established in our midst. 

Myron Angel. 



RECOMMENDED FAVORABLY. 



ALL POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL BILLS ARE SUPPORTED BY 
COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. 



Special to Tribnne. 

Sacramento, Jan. 31, 1905. — Assemblyman 
John addressed the Committee on Public Build- 
ings and Grounds today, and the committee at 
once voted unanimously to recommend favorably 
and support all of the appropriations for the Cal- 
ifornia Polytechnic School. 

[106J 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

POLYTECHNIC. 
INSTITUTE AND PICNIC TO BE GIVEN FRIDAY. 

SOMETHING ABOUT THE SPEAKERS WHO WILL AD- 
DRESS THE PEOPLE ON THAT OCCASION. 

Tribune, May 9, 1906. 

It is rare for the people of San Luis Obispo to 
have the opportunity of hearing so many speak- 
ers of note in one and the same day as will ap- 
pear at the Polytechnic on Friday. Every one 
should thus make a great effort to attend the 
third annual institute. 

Miss Howell has been instructor in domestic 
art at the Polytechnic for the past two years, and 
has filled the position with marked success. She 
graduated from the Normal course at Pratt In- 
stitute, Brooklyn, and had a wide experience in 
teaching before coming to San Luis Obispo. 
Her work covers three years in Mechanics Insti- 
tute, Rochester, New York; five years in the 
Kansas State College, and two years at the 
Throop Institute. 

Miss Secrest is a graduate of the Kansas State 

[107J 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

College, where she also taught as an assistant in 
domestic science. Later she was graduated from 
the Teachers' College, New York, course in 
domestic science; after which she organized the 
course of study in this subject at the Stephen's 
Point Normal School, Wisconsin. 

Her next field of labor was in the Ohio State 
University as Associate Professor of Domestic 
Art, from which position she came to our Poly- 
technic one year ago, and has won a warm place 
in the hearts of all her associates. 

Miss Ednah Rich will speak on *' Training 
Young Women for the House." She is a young 
woman, and yet one of the pioneers in teaching 
manual training on the Pacific Coast. Miss Rich 
was a teacher in the public schools of Santa Bar- 
bara when Anna M. Blake, a wealthy lady of that 
city, decided to found a manual training school. 
She sent Miss Rich to Boston and to Sweden 
and Germany to study sloyd and prepare herself 
for teaching. That Miss Blake was a good 
reader of human nature is illustrated by the won- 
derful success which accompanied the work of 
Miss Rich. 

Professor Jaffa will speak upon his pet theme 
of the food question, and upon which no one is 

[1 08 J 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

better qualified. He is a g^raduate of the Uni- 
versity of California, and has been an instructor 
and experimenter in the College of Agriculture 
since his graduation. His major work has 
always been agricultural chemistry, and about 
eight years ago he began the especial study of 
foods, both for man and beast. For some years 
he has been employed by the United States De- 
partment of Agriculture to make detailed investi- 
gations of the food of some of the foreign col- 
onies in San Francisco. During the year 1902- 
1903 he spent in study with Dr, Atwater at Wes- 
leyan University and in Germany. 

Mrs. Smith is a graduate from Cornell Univer- 
sity in 188 1, and has spent the remaining years 
chiefly in teaching —two of her most important 
appointments having been at Wellesly College 
and Stanford University. At the latter institu- 
tion she made an especial study of sociological 
questions, and is recognized authority upon 
matters relating to them. At present she is head 
of the South Park Settlement in San Francisco 
whose buildings were lost in the fire. She is 
also a Research Assistant of the Carnegie Insti- 
tute employed to prepare a treatise upon Chinese 

I109] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

Immigration. She is a daughter of Professor 
Roberts. 

Professor Roberts needs no introduction to a 
San Luis Obispo audience. He has been present 
at each of the former institutes, and the many 
friends there made will be glad he is coming 
again. He is not only to be here on Friday, but 
will remain at the Polytechnic until commence- 
ment, and will give a course of lectures on rural 
economy. 

ON SEVENTY-NINTH BIRTHDAY. 

December 5, 1906. 

Hon, Myron Angel, San Luis ObispOy Calif- 
ornia: My Dear Mr, Angel — The Polytechnic 
School sends you heartiest greetings upon hav- 
ing passed another mile stone in your long and 
eventful life. I fear we who have come into the 
heritage of the Polytechnic School within the last 
few years, as all of us have who are closely con- 
nected with it, do not appreciate the work that 
was done by pioneers in its origin and establish- 
ment. If we do not appreciate this work, it is 
simply because we do not fully understand re- 
garding It. 

[no] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

I took much pleasure this morning- in tellinor 
our students somethinor of your life and your 
work for the school. We want you to feel we 
are thinking- of you. and that we are glad to be 
enjoying the privileges which you were instru- 
mental in establishing. 

Very sincerely yours, 
(Signed) Leroy Anderson. 



EDUCATIONAL. 



SCHOOLS OF SAN LUIS OBISPO— GOOD PUBLIC 
SCHOOL SYSTEM. 

POLYTECHNIC CROWNS ALL. 
Tribune, June 12, 1906. 
By MYRON ANGEL. 

'* 'Tis education forms the common mind; 

'' Just as the twig is bent, the tree s inclined^ 

The facilities for education are the honor and 
attraction of every country and community. The 
opportunities which every state of the union 
affords and the conditions existing are held up 
before the world as evidences of their rank in 

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CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

enlightenment, comforts, law abiding and desir- 
ableness of dwelling, and it is the proud boast of 
California that she stands conspicuously in the 
lead. The fact is shown in the unprecedented 
endowments of the two great universities, the 
University of California at Berkeley supported 
by the State, with near three thousand students, 
and the Stanford University at Palo Alto 
founded by Leland Stanford and wife, with an 
endowment exceeding thirty millions of dollars. 
These great institutions, unsurpassed in the 
world, are evidences of the spirit of the people in 
matters of education. In addition are sectarian 
and private colleges, normal, polytechnic, high 
and grammar schools of the highest class every- 
where. 

Statistics of the United States show that the 
percentage of education in California is higher 
than in any state of the Union, and that the sal- 
aries of teachers average much larger. All that 
can be claimed for the state can be claimed in a 
high degree for San Luis Obispo city and county. 

San Luis Obispo county, having an area of 
3285 square miles and a population of about 
16,000, has 98 school districts, in each of which 
are one or more public schools, to which must be 

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CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

added the parochial schools, the Convent School 
in the city of San Luis Obispo, the high schools 
of Arroyo Grande, Paso Robles and San Luis 
Obispo, ranking- with the old time Academies of 
the East, and the State Polytechnic School 
crowning all. No more convincing proof could 
be adduced of the aspiring enlightenment of a 
community than this array of educational facili- 
ties. Liberal in government, fraternal in feeling, 
joyous in association, a continuous prayer for the 
best of humanity and civilization. Where there 
are such schools, there is obedience to law, pros- 
perity and respectability. Such schools are the 
basis of our democratic republic, and from them 
grow its supporters, statesmen and defenders. A 
county so endowed invites a population the best 
of the earth for comfort, happiness and ambition. 

The census of school children of Mission Dis- 
trict, comprising the city of San Luis Obispo, 
taken in May, 1906, gives a total of 955 between 
the ages of 5 and 17 years, and 359 under 5 
years of age, a grand total of 1314. Of these 
664 are white girls and 635 white boys; 7 
Chinese girls and 6 Chinese boys. 

The Polytechnic School at the city of San 
Luis Obispo established and supported by the 

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CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

State of California, as its name implies, and as its 
law of foundation requires, is for the broad and 
practical education of the hands as well as the 
mind in every branch of life and work. Its 
teachings are in the advance in the most bene- 
ficial and ennobling theories of education. 

Here the housekeeper, the mechanic, the 
scientist, the agriculturist, and others can be 
fitted in the best and most economical method of 
the various occupations that make success in the 
busy world. A boundless field of beneficence 
and greatness lies before it as to become the 
monumental school of its class in America. A 
high degree of intellectuality is concentrated in 
its precincts and diffused roundabout, an influence 
glowing over, permeating and elevating all so- 
ciety. Such is the proud distinctive feature of 
San Luis Obispo. Such is the most useful and 
popular university of the future. 

The Polytechnic faculty comprises eleven pro- 
fessors and teachers and an enrollment of one hun- 
dred students. Academic, dormitory, agricultural 
and mechanic buildings are in convenient local- 
ities, the grounds comprising near three hundred 
acres on a sightly slope, by the side of the South- 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

ern Pacific Railroad on the northern border of 
the city. 

Agricultural colleges have been established in 
many states, innovations upon the old order of 
farm knowledge; established against the preju- 
dices of centuries of the ''man with the hoe," but 
they are proving their worth and becoming pop- 
ular in an awakening degree. Theorists of farm- 
ing writing in agricultural papers were subjects 
of ridicule, but at last schools were established 
teaching men to carry out the theories, thus 
greatly elevating the farmer and increasing the 
interest in his vocation. The Polytechnic School 
of San Luis Obispo teaches agriculture, in all its 
branches as well as the mechanic arts and trades, 
and the domestic science of the household. 



STATISTICS OF POLYTECHNIC 
SCHOOL. 



By I^eroy Anderson, Director. 

March 8, 1907. 

Number of faculty, 10. 

Average monthly salaries, $1600.00. 

Number of students: male, 70; female, 31. 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

Courses of Study — Agriculture, Mechanics, 
Domestic Science. 

Buildings: Administration for offices, libraries, 
assembly and class rooms; dormitory for faculty 
and boys; carpenter shop for carpentry; forge 
shop for iron work; dairy barn for dairy stock; 
poultry houses; power house for heat and light. 

Number of acres, 281. 

Counties represented: San Luis Obispo, 49; 
Santa Barbara, 9; Los Angeles, 6; Riverside, i; 
San Diego, i: Kern, 2; Monterey, 2; Tulare, 4; 
El Dorado, i; San F'rancisco, 2; Santa Clara, 3; 
Orange, 5; Alameda, 3; Sacramento, 2; San 
Joaquin, 2; Santa Rosa, 2; Santa Cruz, r; San 
Mateo, i; Ventura, i; San Bernardino, i; Solano 
I ; Japan, 2. 



CALIFORNLA. POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL 



The California Polytechnic School is a secon- 
dary school, established by an Act of the State 
legislature passed in 1901. The school is now 
completing its third year of instruction and has 
an enrollment of one hundred and one students. 
It offers courses of study in agriculture, me- 
chanics and the household arts. 

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CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

The school is open to any boy or girl of good 
character, who is at least fifteen years of age and 
has completed the eighth grade of the grammar 
schools. Applicants who hold a Diploma of 
Graduation from such schools are admitted with- 
out examination. Those who do not hold a 
diploma are admitted upon passing a satisfactory 
examination in English, arithmetic, history and 
geography. 

THE AGRICULTURAL EQUIPMENT 
consists of a farm of 20 acres stocked with Perch- 
eron horses, Ayrshire, Jersey and shorthorn 
cattle, and Poland, China and Berkshire swine. 
In addition to the usual supply of farm tools it 
has a corn harvester and binder and an ensilage 
cutter and elevator. 

A modern poultry plant is in operation, stocked 
with White Wyandotte, Buff Orpington and 
White and Brown Leghorn fowls. 

Sanitary dairying is observed daily, and taught 
in a new dairy barn 40 x 80 feet. Instruction in 
butter and cheese making and milk testing is 
given in a well equipped laboratory. 

THE MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT con- 
sists of a forge shop 40 x 56 feet, furnished with 

I.I 17] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

down draft forges, blower and gasoline engine; a 
carpenter shop 40 x 100 feet, furnished with 24 
benches, each with a full set of tools, and a cir- 
cular saw; and a power house fitted with large 
oil burning boiler, engine, dynamos, motors and 
other electrical apparatus. 

THE WORK IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 
will this year be housed in a new building 43 x 
102 feet and two stories in height, besides a high 
basement. It will be fully equipped with sewing 
rooms, kitchen, pantries, dining room, labor- 
atories, gymnasium and baths. It will be the 
home of the school's work for girls. 

The courses of study are each for three years, 
and are approximately as follows: 

AGRICULTURE. 

FIRST YEAR. 

Agriculture, class and field work; English, 
Arithmetic and Algebra, Drawing, Soils and Fer- 
tilizers, Botany, Carpentry, Gardening, Stock 
judging and poultry. 

SECOND YEAR. 

Horticulture, English, Breeds of Live Stock, 

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CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

Chemistry, Butter and Cheese making, Forging, 
Geometry, Bookkeeping, Drawing. 

THIRD YEAR. 

Irrigation and Surveying, History, Feeding 
and Care of Animals, Physics, Agricultural 
Chemistry, Physiology, Plans and Specifications 
for Buildings, Trigonometry. 

MECHANICS. 

FIRST YEAR. 

Arithmetic and Algebra, English, Carpentry, 
Drawing, Science, Bookkeeping. 

SECOND YEAR. 

Geometry, English, Science, Electricity, Draw- 
ing, Forging, Chemistry, Carpentry and Elec- 
trical Working. 

THIRD YEAR. 

Trigonometry, History, Electrical Working, 
Physics, Engines and Boilers, Surveying, Draw- 
ing and Designing. ^ 

DOMESTIC SCIENCE. 

FIRST YEAR. 

Arithmetic and Algebra, English, Elementary 

I "9] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

Chemistry, Drawing, Sewing, Dressmaking, Mil- 
linery, Physiology. 

SECOND YEAR. 

Cooking, English, Bookkeeping, Chemistry, 
Dairying, Domestic Science, Gardening. 

THIRD YEAR. 

Cooking, History, Emergency and Home 
Nursing, Sloyd, Home Economics, Botany, 
Home Sanitation, Laundry. 

SPECIAL COURSE LN AGRICUL. 
TURE. Those who do not feel that they can 
take the full course in agriculture, but who desire 
a training in the more practical subjects of the 
course, may select such subjects as they are qual- 
ified for. They must be at least eighteen years 
of age and possess the same educational qualifi- 
cations as those who enter for the full course. A 
list of studies is given below, from which they 
may choose subject to the approval of the 
faculty. One or two full years' work may be 
very profitably selected from this list: 

Soils and Fertilizers, Stock Judging, Feeding 
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CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

and Care of Animals, Horticulture, Gardening, 
English, Poultry Culture, Breeds of Livestock, 
Botany, Irrigation, Dairying, Drawing, Forging, 
and Carpentry. 

Circulars giving full information about the 
School will be freely sent upon application. 



BOARD OF TRUSTEES. 



EX OFFICIO. 

His Excellency, James N. Gillett, Sacramento, 
Governor of California. 

Hon. Edward Hyatt, Sacramento, Superinten- 
dent of Public Instruction. 

APPOINTED TRUSTEES. 

Hon. Warren M. John, San Luis Obispo. 
Term expires, 1908. 

F. A. Hihn, Esq., Santa Cruz. Term expires, 
1909. 

Prof. F. J. Wickson, A. M., Berkeley. Term 
expires, 19 10. 

R. M. Shackelford, Esq., Paso Robles. Term 
expires, 191 1. 

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CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

George S. Edwards, A. B., Santa Barbara. 
Term expires, 1907. 

OFFICERS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES. 

R. M. Shackelford, President. 
Warren M. John, Vice-President. 
Leroy Anderson, Secretary. 

FACULTY. 

Leroy Anderson, B. S., M. S. A., Ph. D., 
Director. 

Sydney S. Twombly, B. S., D. V. S., Agricul- 
ture, Chemistry, and Veterinary Science. 

James Edwyn Roadhouse, B. S., Plant Indus- 
try and Irrigation. 

Harriet Howell, Domestic Art. 

Edwin Walter Yount, Carpentry and Architec- 
tural Drawing. 

May Secrest, B. S., Domestic Science. 

Leroy Burns Smith, A. B., English, History 
and Economics. 

Herman Bierce Waters, M. E., Physics and 
Electricity. 

Chester Wirt Rubel, B. S. A., Animal and 
Dairy Husbandry. 

William Ferdinand Ewing, A. B., Mathematics. 

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CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

Leo Earl Pearson, Freehand Drawing, Sloyd^ 
and Forginor. 

Crosby Mitchell Gassavvay, Mechanical Draw- 
ing. 

Naomi Mabel Lake, Clerk and Librarian. 

Edith Richardson, Director's Secretary and 
Manager of Dormitory. 

Samuel C. Griffith, Farm Foreman. 

Albert D. Sinclair, Gardener. 

Alfred G. Lunn, Poultryman. 

James M. Duffy, Jr., Dairyman. 

Such is the California Polytechnic School at 
Charter Day, March 8, 1907. 



SUPPLEMENTARY 

A period of nine months having elapsed be- 
tween the closing of this history on charter day 
and its publication. Dr. Anderson has added the 
following supplement. 

The Polytechnic graduated its second class on 
June 14, 1907 consisting of sixteen students. In 
Agriculture: Francis Buck, Santa Barbara; Allen 
Emmert, Arroyo Grande; Henry Pezzoni, 
Guadalupe; Hunter Stringfield, Arroyo Grande; 
and Myron Thomas, Riverside. In mechanics: 

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CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

Alfred Miossi, San Luis Obispo; Eugene Stein- 
beck, San Luis Obispo; George Wilson, Bakers- 
field; and Guy Worden, Shandon. In House- 
hold Arts: Ester Biaggini, Cayucos; Clara Dodge, 
Santa Maria; Florence Muscio, Cayucos; Annie 
Schneider, Morro; Ella Tanner, Morro; and 
Jeanne Tout, Sultana. 

Some changes in the governing board and in 
the Faculty are noted during the summer of 
1907. Trustee George S. Edwards resigned 
and Governor Gillett appointed attorney Paul 
M. Gregg of San Luis Obispo in his stead. 

Upon the Faculty, Frank E. Edwards, M. E. 
of the Oregon Agricultural College, succeeded 
Sydney S. Twombly as instructer in chemistry. 
Frank L. Tavenner, E. E. of Cornell Univer- 
sity, succeeded Crosby M. Gassaway as instruc- 
tor in mechanical drawing and machine work. 
Ira Judson Condit B. S. succeeded James Edwyn 
Roadhouse as instructor in plant industry. 
Harriet Howell, instructor in domestic art, was 
given a leave of absence from September i, 1907 
to June 30, 1908 on account of illness and Grace 
For Iv^ce of the Throop Polytechnic Institute was 
app )iiited to fill the vacancy. Osca^ Leslie 
Heil 1 returned from a year's work at Stanford 

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CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

University to succeed Edwin Walter Yount as 
instructor in carpentry and architectural drawing. 
Ethel Bancroft Richardson, B. L. of the Univer- 
sity of California, was added to the Faculty as 
instructor in Eno-lish. Jane Vaughn Gillett 
succeeded Naomi M. Lake as clerk and also be- 
came manager of the dormitory. 

The Polytechnic school and the citizens of 
San Luis Obispo were called upon to mourn the 
death of Mr. Roadhouse, which occurred No- 
vember 28, 1907. He suffered from an acute 
attack of tuberculosis beginning with hemor- 
rhages on November 7th and resulting in his 
death in only three weeks. He was a man 
much beloved by his students and fellow teachers 
and was a most valued member of the faculty for 
three years, leaving in 1907 to accept an impor- 
tant position with the U. S. Department of 
Agriculture in irrigation investigations in the 
Sacramento Valley. In October he accepted the 
position of Dean of the Hawaiian College of 
Agriculture which was to be organized under 
his leadership and which work he planned to un- 
dertake in January, IQ08. 

L M- )y A.nderson resigned as Director Novem- 
ber I ; 1907 to accept the position of professor 

I125] 



CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 

of Agricultural Practice and Director of Farm 
Schools at the University of California. The 
Board of Trustees elected LeRoy Burns Smith, 
A. B. to succeed him on January i, 1908, Mr. 
Smith was graduated from Cornell University 
in 1901. During the following two years he 
was General Secretary of the Young Men's 
Christian Association at the University of Wis- 
consin. In August, 1903 he entered the Uni- 
versity of California as a graduate student in 
Educational work at the San Francisco Young 
Men's Christian Association. This position he 
filled with much credit and resigned in June 1905 
to become a member of the faculty of the 
Polytechnic School. 

The enrollment of students for the year 1907-8 
up to December, 1907, is 134, representing 
eighteen counties of the state, two other states, 
and Japan and India. The growth of the school 
has been gradual and substantial, and in every 
way encouraging to its friends. 



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APR 84 1908 



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